A special court in Mizoram state capital here has made its first
conviction against a smuggler of party drugs called methamphetamine or
'crystal meth' that has thrown up a new challenge to anti-drug fighters
in the state.
The special court for NDPS Act here convicted a Myanmarese national for smuggling heroin and methamphetamine two days ago. Khenthanga, 47, a resident of Tahan 'F' Group, Myanmar's Sagai division, sentenced to four years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000, is the first person to be convicted in connection with methamphetamine in Mizoram. Khenthanga was arrested on July 6, 2013, with 133 grams of heroin and some quantity of methamphetamine, he smuggled from Myanmar. He told investigators that he smuggled the methamphetamine tablets as samples. Already in the midst of a fierce fight against heroin, illicit pharmaceutical drugs (PD) and alcohol, Mizoram's anti-drug fighters face a new threat of methamphetamine from Myanmar.
The meth factories across Myanmar border in China are partly fueled by pseudoephedrine smuggled out from India into those countries. 'Pseudoephedrine is bought from other parts of India and smuggled out to Burma through our State, which is then used to make methamphetamine and other derivatives which is smuggled across the world,' said an excise official. Three major seizures of methamphetamine have been made in Mizoram this year. Customs officials seized 10,000 tablets of methamphetamine, reddish-orange in colour and each marked 88, from Melbuk village in Champhai district on April 30. Two Myanmarese nationals - a woman named Lalruaipuii, 26, and Lalhnunpuia Bawihtlung, 45 - were arrested in this connection.
The seized drugs have a street value of Rs 1 crore, officials said. On March 5, officials seized 15,000 tablets of meth, smuggled from Myanmar, in Aizawl and arrested a Myanmarese national. All the accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. Earlier on January 31, the excise police seized 120,000 tablets of the same drug in Aizawl. The seized drugs were valued at Rs 2.4 crore in the local market and it is said to be the biggest meth haul in Mizoram so far. Excise police seized 670 tablets of meth in 2001, 971 in 2002 and 287 in 2011.
The first seizure of meth was way back in the late nineties, they said. Rumours have it that the peddlers are here and if the Mizo social networks are to be believed, the evil business often kick starts with a free offer of samples to impressionable youngsters as in heroin addiction. Meth and its family is highly addictive and therefore the high danger.
With 410 kms of international border with Myanmar, Mizoram is already part of the Golden Triangle, as its main doorway in its western borders. How is it going to defend the youth of the region from this fresh attack of drugs is the moot question, even as media reports say that the meth wave is sweeping communities around the world.
READ MORE - Mizoram court convicts meth smuggler
The special court for NDPS Act here convicted a Myanmarese national for smuggling heroin and methamphetamine two days ago. Khenthanga, 47, a resident of Tahan 'F' Group, Myanmar's Sagai division, sentenced to four years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000, is the first person to be convicted in connection with methamphetamine in Mizoram. Khenthanga was arrested on July 6, 2013, with 133 grams of heroin and some quantity of methamphetamine, he smuggled from Myanmar. He told investigators that he smuggled the methamphetamine tablets as samples. Already in the midst of a fierce fight against heroin, illicit pharmaceutical drugs (PD) and alcohol, Mizoram's anti-drug fighters face a new threat of methamphetamine from Myanmar.
The meth factories across Myanmar border in China are partly fueled by pseudoephedrine smuggled out from India into those countries. 'Pseudoephedrine is bought from other parts of India and smuggled out to Burma through our State, which is then used to make methamphetamine and other derivatives which is smuggled across the world,' said an excise official. Three major seizures of methamphetamine have been made in Mizoram this year. Customs officials seized 10,000 tablets of methamphetamine, reddish-orange in colour and each marked 88, from Melbuk village in Champhai district on April 30. Two Myanmarese nationals - a woman named Lalruaipuii, 26, and Lalhnunpuia Bawihtlung, 45 - were arrested in this connection.
The seized drugs have a street value of Rs 1 crore, officials said. On March 5, officials seized 15,000 tablets of meth, smuggled from Myanmar, in Aizawl and arrested a Myanmarese national. All the accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. Earlier on January 31, the excise police seized 120,000 tablets of the same drug in Aizawl. The seized drugs were valued at Rs 2.4 crore in the local market and it is said to be the biggest meth haul in Mizoram so far. Excise police seized 670 tablets of meth in 2001, 971 in 2002 and 287 in 2011.
The first seizure of meth was way back in the late nineties, they said. Rumours have it that the peddlers are here and if the Mizo social networks are to be believed, the evil business often kick starts with a free offer of samples to impressionable youngsters as in heroin addiction. Meth and its family is highly addictive and therefore the high danger.
With 410 kms of international border with Myanmar, Mizoram is already part of the Golden Triangle, as its main doorway in its western borders. How is it going to defend the youth of the region from this fresh attack of drugs is the moot question, even as media reports say that the meth wave is sweeping communities around the world.
