Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday advised his detractors to think of the families drug dealers have destroyed before sympathising with them and criticising the State police for being “trigger-happy”.
The police have since May 10 killed or injured more than 25 alleged criminals, some of them drug traffickers, inviting criticism from Opposition parties and rights activists.
“Section 46 of CrPC gives power to the police to shoot in the leg if someone tries to snatch a pistol and flee. There are debates, but before sympathising with the drug dealers one should think about the families they have destroyed, the social damage they have done,” Dr Sarma said before setting fire to a pile of seized drugs, including 3.47 kg heroin, at Sutianala near Diphu.
About 250 km east of Guwahati, Diphu is the headquarters of Karbi Anglong district that has gained notoriety over the decades as the corridor of the drug trade from Myanmar. Intelligence agencies say the drugs find their way via Manipur and Nagaland, which adjoin Karbi Anglong.
Dr. Sarma said his government was determined to fight the drug menace with the most extreme measures permitted by law, come what may.
“We will be burning drugs worth ₹163-crore seized in two months over two days (July 17-18). If we assume this is 10% of what is available in the grey market, drugs worth ₹6,000 crore is trafficked through and consumed in Assam annually,” the Chief Minister said.
“To curb the menace, police will have to take extreme measures. Drug dealers will be killed and shot in the leg if they take the law into their hands,” he added.
Role of NSCN
Assam’s Director-General of Police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said non-state actors in Dimapur, the commercial hub of Nagaland, are a major part of the problem of drug trafficking and abuse in Assam.
The “non-state actors” in Nagaland are the factions of the extremist National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) that are based in and around Dimapur. The largest among them is the Isak-Muivah faction. Dimapur is about 50 km from Diphu.
“Different kinds of opiate and chemical drugs have taken an entire generation to the path of self-destruction. The original killers are ensconced in the protection of the military and non-state actors in Myanmar such as the Wa United State Army who are the biggest producers of methamphetamine,” Mr. Mahanta said.
“Dimapur is a very major base of methamphetamine. I am told they (drug dealers) get protection from non-state actors there. We have to be very careful and aware of all this,” he added.
