drugs

Guwahati, July 17: Historical day in Assam as drugs worth more than Rs.2 crore burnt in public glare in presence of Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma. There has been a massive crackdown on drug peddling by Assam police to ensure a drug-free Assam.

In Golaghat Heroin 1.025kg, Ganja 1200kg, Opium 3 kg, Tab 84.375kg have been burnt by the administration. 1.68 Crore drugs seized till now that too in 2 months.

Two days back Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that the seized drugs will be burnt in public on July 17 and July 18 at Golaghat, Diphu, Nagaon, and Hojai to send a message of zero-tolerance.

Assam Chief Minister also said that the state was on its way to becoming like Punjab due to the use and trade of illicit drugs by the youth.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told the State Assembly that many startling facts about drug abuse and trafficking came to light during the ongoing operation against drugs which was launched soon after he took charge as chief minister in May.

“We heard about the serious problem of drug abuse in Punjab. But our anti-drugs operation in the past two months has revealed that our state is also under serious grip of such drugs. Earlier, Assam used to be a transit route to carry the drugs being pumped in from Myanmar via Manipur and Nagaland. But we have stumbled on startling facts about large-scale local consumption like in Punjab. Many young boys are consuming drugs like heroin, a psychotropic substance like Yaba tablets and All is your tablets, which were found to be in use among cadres of militant groups to carry on their activities continuously for days without any sleep,” Sarma told the ongoing Budget session of the Assembly while replying to the issue raised by AGP MLA, Pradip Hazarika.


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Sarma said 27 kg of heroin has been seized in the past two months while 12,823 kg of cannabis has also been recovered since then. The police also recovered 42 kg of opium and 78,000 bottles of cough syrup, which are used as drugs, and 13.63 lakh tables (psychotropic substances) so far. A total of 1,897 persons (both kingpin and peddlers) have been arrested in 1,121 cases registered since May.

Though police had been acting against drug trafficking in past, it intensified after the new government took office in May this year. In 2016, 10 kg of heroin was recovered, 5 kg in 2017, 7 kg in 2018, 23 kg in 2019, and 27 kg in 2020.