Imphal, December 5 (NNN): In Manipur, there are many mobile drug manufacturing units, claimed Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) on Monday. Citing intelligence output, NCB said it is quite suspicious that some illegal drug rings based in China have financially supported in the cultivation of poppy plants in the State and regularly collect the products to make profits.
It was revealed during the Regional Coordination Meeting at Custom House, Kolkata on December 3 chaired by Director General of Narcotic Bureau Regional Coordination which was attended by 13 states, including seven states of the Northeast. The meeting was also attended by various heads of drug law enforcement agencies.
The Director General advised the participants to make a joint effort to fight the drug menace and stop illegal cultivation of poppy plants in the States where it is grown.
In the context of Manipur, NCB Imphal has carried out a number of narcotic seizures during the current calendar with the help and cooperation rendered by other agencies like Assam Rifles, Assistant Director, NCB Imphal, Vijay Shahasani told reporters at NCB office in Imphal today.
He also said that NCB had seized and destroyed large poppy plants in the remote hill areas, especially in the insurgent prone areas of the State.
Opium produced from illicit poppy cultivations in the State is also trafficked to other States like Nagaland and Assam, according to sources. Opium is also trafficked from neighboring Myanmar to Manipur as many drug peddlers from that country are often held in the State in illicit drug trafficking cases.
Both Heroin and ATS (Amphetamines) are also trafficked from Myanmar to Manipur. Large amount of Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine elements are illegally manufactured in India which are in turn diverted and trafficked from Imphal-Moreh route connecting Myanmar.
Ephedrine tablets are again trafficked back to Myanmar where the drugs are crushed into powder and extracted ephedrine contains in the tablets and make them Amphetamines, intelligent sources said.
The rate of Ephedrine per tablet costs only 40 paise but it costs Rs 5 once it arrives at the border town Moreh and jumps up to double rate when it crosses the Manipur-Myanmar border. Drug traffickers turned them into ATS tablets and sold at Rs 1,500 per one piece of tablet. In Manipur, ATS are used in delirious parties by young college students besides drinks and sex pills while enjoying in parties and clubs, Vijay Shahasani said. He also informed that the rate of heroin drug from Myanmar is about Rs 12 lakh per kg with one handgun in free to buy it.
According to NCB, Imphal, the bureau has managed to seize large amount of drugs and drug traffickers from the period from January- November 2011.
