Drug smugglers find new route via Mizoram, evade clashes-hit Manipur

Drug smugglers find new route via Mizoram, evade clashes-hit Manipur

Subject: Geography

Section: Places in news

Context:

• Indian smugglers and their local contacts on either side of the international border used excavators to carve out a 10-km “jeepable road” in Myanmar for the ‘Dawn’ of a new drug route through Mizoram.

Details:

• Mizoram has become a major transit for narcotic substances from Myanmar to other parts of India.
• Dawn is the name of the nearest habitation from Lungkawlh, a village in central Mizoram’s Serchhip district situated near the border with Myanmar.
• The track starts from the Tiau River – it marks Mizoram’s border with Myanmar – to Dawn.
  • The Tiau River runs southward along the international edge of the Saitual district through the Champhai, Serchhip, and Hnahthial districts where it meets the Tuichang River and flows onward as the Chhimtuipui.
• The smugglers are using this route to avoid the ethnic conflict-scarred Manipur.
• Smugglers use Kenbos (Myanmar-made two-wheelers illegal in India but used within the FMR) for trans-border drug supply.
• Most smuggled drugs through these routes: methamphetamine pills or crystal meth.
• Earlier routes for smuggling:
  • Moreh-Tamu route and Zokhawthar-Tiddim in Myanmar’s Chin State.
  • Zokhawthar, a border trade centre, is about 40 km from Champhai, the headquarters of the Champhai district. Both places are within the 16-km distance a Myanmar national is allowed to travel.
  • Another “stop-gap” route is from Dawn to Ngharchhip in the Hnahthial district south of Serchhip through Ralpel (Myanmar).

Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985:

• The NDPS Act defines cannabis (hemp) as a narcotic drug based on the parts of the plant that come under its purview. The Act lists these parts as:
  • Charas: The separated resin, in whatever form, whether crude or purified, is obtained from the cannabis plant and also includes concentrated preparation and resin known as hashish oil or liquid hashish.
  • Ganja: The flowering or fruiting tops of the cannabis plant (excluding the seeds and leaves when not accompanied by the tops), by whatever name they are known or designated.
  • Any mixture, with or without any neutral material, of any of the above forms of cannabis or any drink prepared therefrom.
• The Act, in its definition, excludes seeds and leaves “when not accompanied by the tops”.
• Bhang is not mentioned in the NDPS Act.
• Punishment:
  • Section 20 of the NDPS Act lays out the punishment for the production, manufacture, sale, purchase, import and inter-state export of cannabis, as defined in the Act. The prescribed punishment is based on the amount of drugs seized.
  • It also provides for the death penalty in some cases where a person is a repeat offender.

Source of this article: The Hindu