Woman, juvenile held with contraband
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: In one of the biggest hauls in the history of Shillong,the Anti Narcotic Task Force on Sunday arrested a woman and a juvenile and seized 930 grams of drugs worth over Rs 4 crore.
The seizure was made by the police from a passenger bus (MN 04P 1451) at Mawryngkneng and the bus was coming from Manipur.
East Khasi Hills SP Claudia Lyngwa told reporters on Monday that the supply of contraband items have dried up in Shillong which has led to increase in the price of drugs and police had setup check points in different parts of the state in view of the upcoming Independence Day celebrations when the seizure was made.
Jagpal Singh, Sub Divisional Police Officer, Sadar who is heading the ANTF, said contraband items were seized from the luggage and hidden compartments inside the bus.The arrested woman has been identified as Veineithem Hoakip and the street value of the seized item is Rs 4.5 crore.
“This is an opportune time for the youth who are addicted to drugs to give up the addiction as supply is dried up in Shillong and the price of drugs also shot up and now they should instead go for treatment”, Singh said. Informing that the police are trying break the supply chain of drugs in the city, he added that this year alone, the district police has seized around 2.3kgs of drugs.
When asked if the matter pertaining to supply of drugs would be taken up with Manipur police as most of the consignments are coming from Manipur, Claudia said that a meeting of the coordination committee will be held shortly in the city and Shillong police would take up the issue with Manipur police.
The meeting will also discuss the issue of stolen Meghalaya vehicles taken to Manipur.
According to Claudia, the matter pertaining to youths getting addicted to drugs was also taken up with senior doctors in Shillong and many believe that if the trend continues, 50-60 percent of the youths will be addicted to drugs in the next 2-3 years in Shillong.
“There must be a proper syndicate which is transporting such items to Shillong,” she said.
The SP also said if any groups or residents catch drug users and peddlers, they should just detain them and inform the police but should not frisk them or else the case will fall flat due to the stringent provision of NDPS.
Urging parents to be cautious, she added that the situation as far as drug menace is concerned is alarming in the city.