Imphal, June 28: The proscribed Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) has waged a war against the drug menace in Bishenpur, one of the four valley districts of Manipur. The banned outfit, in a statement today, said it would “liberate” Bishenpur, one of the worst drug-hit districts of the state, from “the deadly scourge of drug addiction by December this year”. The outfit asked traffickers, peddlers as well as addicts to shun drugs by December.
The outfit also confirmed that it had killed a peddler, one Ningthoujam Raja alias Inaothi, a resident of the district, on the eve of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
The underground outfit, which shot at the legs of several others in the district recently, asked peddlers to “surrender” to it to avoid “capital punishment”.
It said the punishment would be meted out to peddlers and traffickers without any warning.
The statement said two of those shot in the legs were peddlers-cum-addicts.
The outfit said the spread of the drug menace was a handiwork of the government to “destroy the youths of Manipur”. The outfit said the campaign was part of its “Operation New Kangleipak.”
The statement said 50 per cent of the nearly 13,000 HIV positive people in the state were drug addicts, who were acting as couriers of the deadly virus.
It appealed to all parents, social organisations, local youth clubs and individuals to extend full co-operation in its fight against drug abuse.
The KYKL had also killed some drug traffickers in the past few months. Several other addicts and peddlers were also shot at the legs before.