GUWAHATI, July 6 ? There is a large-scale increase in the smuggling of drugs and other psychotropic substances across the North East. While the region is the major transit route of drugs destined for the metropolitan cities like Delhi and Mumbai from Myanmar and Thailand, it is also serving as a major route to supply cheaper alternatives like Phensedyl cough syrup to countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar. A huge consignment of Phensedyl bound for Bangladesh was seized by the BSF in Tripura recently.
Officials involved in the monitoring of the drug trade in the region said here that the North East has become the ideal route for drug traffickers who are taking advantage of the porous border and the protection given by militant outfits to run a thriving business. The militant groups are also said to be getting a cut from the profits generated.
?The region is the shortest route for drugs from South East Asia to the metros,? the officials said. What is more worrisome is the regular seizures of ganja that are meant to be smuggled out of this region to mainland India. In a few cases,, even members of the Central police organizations have been caught with such substances. ?It only proves how lucrative the trade in such substances have become,? the sources said, adding that the changing lifestyles in the metros have increased the demand for intoxicating drugs.
The officials said that there is an unusually large flow of substances like Phensedyl in the region. The abuse and smuggling of this drug has been going on for more than a decade. Other drugs like Proxyvone, Ephedrine, Methaqualone and Mandrax are also available in plenty here. With the region becoming a major transit zone, drug addiction is also on the rise in the North East. The officials, however, had no solid figures at hand but admitted that the problem is very much prevalent in Guwahati too. Though high-value drugs have still not made much inroad here there are several cases of abuse of Proxyvone, a synthetic substance that gives a high.