From Our Correspondent
TURA: In the wake of the recent seizure of over two thousand ‘Yaba’ pills by the West Garo Hills police in the plain belt region of the district, the security forces are on vigil to avert the attempts by smugglers using the route to transport illegal consignments.
Two months ago, Phulbari Police seized the ‘Yaba’ narcotic consignment from a motorcyclist at Rajpur village near Bhaitbari. Earlier, BSF intercepted a similar consignment that smugglers were trying to take across by using the river route on the Brahmaputra in Dhubri area of neighbouring Assam.
The arrested smuggler in Phulbari had revealed to the police that the consignment was brought over from Guwahati and was being taken to Mankachar town through the Garo Hills road to be exported to Bangladesh.
The river route used by the arrested Dhubri smugglers also snakes its way through the Garo Hills waters.
The highly toxic ‘Yaba’ narcotic is produced illegally in Myanmar (Burma) and smuggled into India and Bangladesh by smugglers and the high number of its illegal import into the country has become a matter of concern for law enforcement agencies.
Some days before, a consignment of ‘Yaba’ tablets worth several lakh rupees in the black market was seized in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills region.
There is apprehension that the rising number of recoveries indicates that smugglers are trying out new routes to export their narcotic consignments via the plain-belt region of Garo Hills which shares a long border with both Assam and Bangladesh.
Since Mankachar town is in close proximity to Bangladesh, separated by the border fencing, the only way to reach the frontier town is either through the river route or the road passing through Garo Hills plain belt.
“We are keeping strict vigil across the entire region and have also placed our sources at vulnerable points,” informed West Garo Hills Police Chief MGR Kumar.
In respect of the publication of NRC in Assam and the apprehension of possible influx of immigrants, Garo Hills Police have placed several security checks in the plain belt region beginning from Rongsai in North Garo Hills which borders Assam all the way to ASimulkol junction that connects Selsella and Hallidayganj.
Police have hopes that the heightened security will act as a deterrent against any future attempts by smugglers to foray into the Garo Hills areas.