Most drugs entering Tripura through Mizoram border: Police

Tripuras 107kmlong boundary with Mizoram is a cause of concern for law enforcement agencies as most of the drugs from Myanmar enter the state through that borderVigil has been stepped up along the border between the two northeastern neighbours to prevent drug trafficking said Bhanupada Chakraborty Superintendent of Police of North Tripura district which shares the boundary with MizoramLaw enforcement agencies are working hard to curb drug trafficking but smuggling of drugs especially heroin continues along the interstate border Chakraborty told PTI on MondayChief Minister Manik Saha has declared a war against increasing drug trafficking and law enforcement agencies have adopted a zerotolerance policy to curb the drug menaceTill August 2023 a total of 746 people were booked in connection with 445 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances NDPS cases and contraband items including heroin amounting to Rs 9184 crore was seized during the period according to a police reportMyanmar appears a potential threat to the war against drugs declared by Tripura We are sure these drugs are coming from Myanmar Mizoram is just a transit point as far as drug trafficking is concerned the police officer saidAccording to Chakraborty drug mafias sometimes also use SilcharChuraibari entry point to Tripura from Assam to transport drug itemsWe often foiled drug smuggling under Churaibari police station despite having severe staff constraints The police need to be strengthened further to intensify war against the drug trafficking the SP saidPolice have sent two or three teams to Mizoram in connection with some specific NDPS cases but they did not make much progress as the origin of the drug peddlers could not be found In the course of interrogation and probe we came to know that Mizoram border is being used as a safe corridor for trafficking drugs to the state Officer in Charge OC Damcherra police station Raju Bhowmik told PTIThree police stations Damcherra Khedacherra and Vangmum share 107 km interstate border with Mizoram with a skeleton staffAt present Damcherra police station has only two subinspectors along with one inspector and six to eight constables and some Tripura State Rifles TSR jawans It is very difficult to maintain close control at Nripen Chakraborty setu bridge which connects Mizorams Mamit district to Damcherra in North Tripura the OC saidThe bridge over river Longai connects Tripura and MizoramBhowmik said We require adequate staff to maintain strict vigil at the entry point to Damcherra Around 4050 vehicles are coming to Damcherra through the bridge daily If we want to check all vehicles more policemen are needed at the check gate at DamcherraTaking advantage of skeleton police presence the drug mafia are using Damcherra to smuggle drugs along with goods to the northeastern state he saidNorth Tripura Chief Medical Officer CMO Dr Arunabh Chakraborty said the number of injected drug users IDUs among the inmates of Bruhapra resettlement village Bru camp under Damcherra police station has been on the rise over the past few years Tripura State AIDS Control Society TSACS is working in the field to check the menace We have identified some potential pockets of drug users and opened two Oral Substitution Therapy OST clinics in two Public Health Centres PHCs at Jampui Hills Vangmun and Damcherra to provide them medical attention he saidMeanwhile the Narcotics Control Bureau NCB will soon have a zonallevel office in Agartala to curb drug and narcotics trafficking effectively officials saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever