Mizoram to launch 4-month special campaign against drug smuggling, abuse

Aizawl, Aug 31 (IANS) The Mizoram government will launch a four-month-long special campaign to curb the illegal trade of drugs and their menaces from Monday, officials said on Sunday.

Various drugs, especially highly addictive methamphetamine tablets and different types of contraband, including exotic animals, are often illegally traded through six districts in Mizoram -- Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Hnahthial, Saitual, and Serchhip -- which share unfenced borders of 510 km with Myanmar. From Mizoram, these drugs are ferried to other parts of the country and abroad, including Bangladesh, through Assam and Tripura.

A senior police official said that the four-month-long campaign and operation would start from Monday and would continue till December 31 this year. The police, various other law-enforcing agencies, in collaboration with the Young Mizo Association (YMA), will be undertaking the campaign in all drug-affected localities, villages and bordering areas of all 11 districts of Mizoram.

The influential YMA has been undertaking various social, cultural and awareness programmes in the Mizo society in Mizoram and other states, where Mizo people are residing.

Mizoram Home Minister K Sapdanga had recently said that drug smugglers, including Myanmar nationals and drug addicts, often commit various crimes, including theft, causing danger to the Mizo society.

Experts and social activists claimed that only 10 to 12 per cent of the drugs smuggled from Myanmar were seized by the law enforcement agencies, including Assam Rifles and Mizoram police.

According to the data of the state Excise and Narcotics Department, more than 50 people, including women, have died of drug abuse this year.

In more than five years since 2020, a total of 351 people have died due to drug abuse.

Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma last week said that drug abuse remains the biggest threat to the state. The Chief Minister had said that the state lies within close proximity to the ‘Golden Triangle’, a region notorious for drug trafficking.

Calling for collective efforts to fight the menaces of both drug abuse, smuggling of narcotics and spread of HIV/AIDS, Lalduhoma said that it is a struggle for both physical and spiritual well-being of all people.

The Mizoram government has started the recruitment process to form a Mizo Territorial Army (MTA) battalion to deal with drug trafficking and other law and order-related issues.

--IANS

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