Home Public Health

Northeast India Confronts a Growing Drug Crisis

Northeast India Faces Drug Menace with Major Implications for the Country’s External and Internal Security, Sparking Nationwide Concerns. Authorities Struggle to Contain the Growing Crisis.

By Sajal Nag, 360info
New Update
Northeast India and drug crisis

Northeast India Confronts a Growing Drug Crisis | Poppy cultivation is widespread in the area around India's northeast border with Myanmar. | Mabel Amber via Pixabay | Credits Pixabay Licence

Listen to this article
0.75x 1x 1.5x
00:00 / 00:00

Northeast India and the Growing Drug Menace

When deadly ethnic clashes erupted in Manipur in India’s northeast frontier with Myanmar in May 2023, it was attributed to one group’s demands for recognition as a constitutionally-mandated Scheduled Tribe. 

Soon, large swathes of the state were engulfed in the violence. Almost a year after the first killings last summer, the total death count stood at about 220. More than 1,100 people were injured while about 60,000 were displaced.

The cultivation of poppy and cross-border drug trafficking from Myanmar to India has been a frequent theme of reporting by journalists and confirmed by Home Ministry reports from time to time. 

The government acknowledges that while drug consumption in Northeast India is a “serious problem”, some new trends, such as drug syndicates and narcotic smugglers’ “collusion” with Nigerian cartels, have added a new dimension to the problem that shows no signs of abating.

Hi-tech surveillance

India’s northeastern states – the ‘Seven Sisters’ as they are traditionally referred to – have historically been associated with the cross-border drug trade whose origins are linked to the ‘Golden Triangle’ with Myanmar at the centre of this international narcotics-fuelled economy. As a result, police have been empowered to use government rules and legislations to hit hard against drug trafficking in northeast India.

Detailed “vulnerability mapping” is carried out from time to time along the 1642-km border with Myanmar to deepen and widen surveillance by deploying electronic equipment.

Long-range reconnaissance and observation and battlefie

login-icon

The Probe: Investigative Journalism & In-Depth News Analysis

Dive into the world of The Probe, where investigative journalism meets in-depth news analysis. Explore exclusive stories, uncover hidden truths, and gain unparalleled insights into issues of public interest.