Urmi Bhattacharjee
Guwahati, May 30: Almost every few days, Assam records another drug haul — ₹2 crore, ₹7 crore, ₹20 crore or even ₹45 crore. Taken individually, they appear like routine police updates. Taken together, they reveal a far bigger story. The latest compiled data from the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) records shows that between 2020 and 2024, Assam registered 12,500 NDPS cases and 20,398 arrests — the highest among the 12 eastern and northeastern states.
According to official figures released by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the state registered drug seizures worth ₹2,919 crore over the last five years. Together, these numbers reveal the scale of a narcotics battle that has quietly pushed Assam into becoming one of India’s primary anti-drug frontiers.
When viewed in a broader context, the picture becomes even more startling. Describing the anti-drug operation as the “most decisive ever” undertaken in Assam, Sarma asserted that the crackdown would continue against the drug mafia and its networks. “The war against drugs in Assam has been the most decisive ever from 2021-2026. Crackdown would continue in the coming days,” the Chief Minister claimed while releasing the government’s latest enforcement figures.
The figures also mark a tremendous increase in seizures — ₹383.64 crore in both 2021 and 2022 before jumping to ₹722.55 crore in 2023 and ₹658.76 crore in 2024. Even in 2025, narcotics worth ₹419.47 crore were seized. Data released by the government stated that seizures during the last five years (2021-2025) were many times higher than those recorded in the previous five-year period.
The enormous volume of seizures also offers an insight into the variety of drugs traversing Assam. In 2025, authorities seized 87 kg of heroin, 209 kg of opium, 48 kg of morphine, over 1,381 kg of ganja, more than 27 lakh psychotropic tablets and over 1.26 lakh bottles of cough syrup. Clearly, these figures point to organised trafficking networks operating across multiple routes rather than isolated drug distribution chains.
The crackdown has, over the years, moved beyond arrests and interceptions to targeting the financial and logistical backbone of drug syndicates, including properties linked to them.
However, the key question remains — why Assam?
Part of the answer lies in its strategic geography. Situated at the heart of the Northeast, Assam acts as a key gateway connecting the region with mainland India. Vehicles carrying goods and people travel through Assam’s highways, rail networks and transport corridors from neighbouring border states to various parts of the country and vice versa. Officials believe these are now the same routes increasingly being used by narcotics traffickers.
Investigations have often led law enforcement agencies to trace major consignments entering through Assam to routes linked with Myanmar and the Golden Triangle — the region known as one of the world’s largest narcotics-producing hubs spanning parts of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand. From there, heroin, methamphetamine, Yaba tablets and synthetic drugs frequently enter the Northeast’s drug supply chain.
Recent operations have revealed the scale of individual consignments. In Cachar district, authorities seized nearly 1.5 lakh Yaba tablets worth ₹45 crore in one of the largest drug hauls in the region. In separate operations across southern Assam, heroin worth several crores and tens of thousands of Yaba tablets were recovered from interstate vehicles.
Social workers and anti-drug campaigners, however, fear that such seizures point towards the growing accessibility of narcotics and synthetic drugs, particularly among youth and vulnerable communities in towns and districts located along transport routes and border corridors. They point out that every ₹2 crore, ₹7 crore, ₹20 crore or ₹45 crore haul represents a consignment that was intercepted. At the same time, they raise concerns about the larger challenge of ensuring such drugs do not reach communities in the first place.
The numbers therefore tell two stories. They signify an aggressive stance by enforcement agencies. They also reveal the scale of attempts being made to push narcotics through the state. Every ₹2 crore, ₹20 crore or ₹45 crore seizure represents an intercepted consignment. At the same time, these figures offer a glimpse into the size of the trafficking networks operating behind such rackets.
What emerges from the data is not a series of isolated busts but evidence of an organised and coordinated trafficking chain stretching across highways, border corridors, railway routes and transport networks. The scale of seizures, recurring high-value consignments and growing arrests suggest that Assam is not merely battling individual peddlers or local criminal networks but is confronting a much larger and deeply entrenched problem.
Every few days, another drug haul emerges from Assam — ₹2 crore, ₹7 crore, ₹20 crore or ₹40 crore. Individually, these may appear as routine police updates. Collectively, they tell a much larger story: a quiet but intense war against narcotics is unfolding across Assam’s roads, towns and border corridors. The scale of seizures suggests the state is no longer merely witnessing India’s drug war. It has increasingly become one of its principal frontlines.
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