'Drugs enter NE states from Myanmar before smuggled to Bangladesh': Tripura CM

Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha on Tuesday expressed concern over drug smuggling and said they enter the northeastern states from Myanmar before moving to Bangladesh.

"The drugs are trafficked from Myanmar and enter Tripura through Assam and Mizoram and then to Bangladesh," the chief minister told reporters after the inaugural session of a two-day interstate conference of high ranking police officials of the northeastern states at the Pragna Bhawan in Agartala.

In the meeting, the officials including the state police chiefs of the north-eastern states are expected to discuss interstate issues and measures to combat infiltration, influx of drugs, arms, gold, illegal immigrants and smuggling of cattle to Bangladesh. The conference has been organised after a gap of three years due to Covid-19 pandemic. Dr Saha said that Tripura is hosting the conference after a gap of 30 years.

He said after coming to power in 2018, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)- Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) government in the state had started Nasha Mukt Tripura abhiyan (drug-free Tripura campaign).

To combat the menace, the state government adopted several measures including anti-drugs awareness campaign, forming students' led special guard teams to conduct awareness campaign in educational institutions, maintaining coordination with central agencies like, Narcotics Control Bureau, Enforcement Bureau, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence etc., he added.

The chief minister said that the law and order situation in the region is better at present with negligible interstate problems. " He said that it has become possible due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policies.

"The central leadership is taking up the issue with their Bangladeshi counterparts and (border) fencing is over in almost all the areas of the state," Dr. Saha said.

Union home minister Amit Shah, during the 70th North-East Council ( NEC) meeting held at Guwahati last month, stressed the northeast should not be used as a corridor for drug trafficking as arms and ammunitions might come with the drugs. Proper border fencing, lighting, drone technology, cameras satellite imagery software etc. were also discussed at the NEC meeting.

Earlier, Saha said that the state government had already requested the Centre to strengthen the Border Security Force ( BSF) and to set up naka points at bordering areas of Assam and Mizoram and a branch of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Tripura.