The State advisory board for Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PIT-NDPS) will meet after the lifting of election model code of conduct to decide on detention of repeated drug traffickers and narcotic peddlers.
Section 3 of the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988 empowers the government to detain a person to prevent him from engaging in illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
“Cases are now being processed for forwarding the same to the advisory board, which will be sitting as soon as the model code of conduct is lifted,” Social Welfare Minister Paul Lyngdoh said today.
“Once the list is approved and forwarded to the advisory board then you will have the first instance of persons who are actually being placed under preventive detention for illegal trafficking of narcotics and that will become a huge boost to our effort to contain the menace,” he added.
Lyngdoh also said that the State government had already declared a war against drugs. “The fact that there has been more detentions, more cases being unearthed and more of the violators being brought to book shows that we are in fact cracking with all our might against these various violators whether they are people engaged in trafficking or those engaged indulging in consumption of these narcotics,” he added.
He also said that the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PIT-NDPS) was invoked last year by the State government and cases against habitual offenders have already been built in order to detain them under this law.
It may be noted that the Meghalaya police had sent a proposal to the State government to put habitual drug peddlers under preventive detention through sections of the PIT-NDPS as most of the drug peddlers arrested in the State are repeat offenders who obtain bail from the courts and then get back to drug peddling.
The PIT-NDPS advisory board in Meghalaya is headed by Justice (retd) Shivaji Pandey.
