Shillong, March 5: The record for the highest seizure or recovery of cash in the state for the past fifty years has been broken by Meghalaya police with the recovery of a whooping 45.6 lakh rupees, last year.

Meghalaya Director General of Police Dr L R Bishnoi announced the record haul during a press conference at police headquarters in Shillong on Tuesday.

Hailing the dedicated effort of the men and women of the force, Bishnoi said that the fifty year record was broken after two successive cash recoveries in the last two years.

“In 2022, 36 lakh rupees were recovered. But in 2023 nearly 45.6 lakh rupees were recovered, and in 2024, 60,000 rupees has been recovered so far,” announced the DGP.

Largest seizure of contraband in last 2 years, high number of women peddlers arrested

The state DGP highlighted the dangers of drug use and the smuggling of narcotics into the state, mentioning that there is staggering data on the size of contraband and its peddlers.

In 2022, the police registered 116 cases, which went up to 189 last year. So far, in the first two months of January and February, this year, 13 cases have already been registered, revealed DGP Bishnoi.

The arrest figure in connection to smuggling and peddling narcotics has also been continuously rising from the year 2022.

In 2022 there were 234 persons arrested, 355 people in 2023, and 25 persons in a span of just two months, this year.

“Since my time of joining there has been a total of 610 arrests so far and out of that 10% are women traffickers, 61 are women and the rest are male,” mentioned Bishnoi.

He further informed that they have recovered 7.5 kg heroin in 2022, 16.3 kg heroin in 2023 and nearly one kg heroin in the first two months of 2024. The total seizure of heroin will be approximately 26 kg, stated the police chief.

When it came to the illegal supply of marijuana, 3987 kg were recovered in 2022, nearly 1400 kg in 2023, and a whooping 4750 kg in the last two months of 2024.

The latest entry into the narcotic circle are Yabba tablets- a synthetic form of narcotics made inside Myanmar that passes through Bangladesh before making an entry into North East India.

In 2022 there were as many as 19,000 tablets seized in the state. The figure rose to more than 60,000 tablets in 2023.

This year, around 2000 Yaba tablets have been seized in a span of two months.

There have also been various psychotropic tablets peddled for sale to addicts and its seizure has been 16,928 in 2022, 32,298 in 2023 and 600 into 2024.

Meghalaya DGP Bishnoi also revealed that for the very first time in the history of the Meghalaya police, the men in uniform have recovered the powerful and much sought after crystal meth drug weighing in at a staggering 14.2 kg.

“crystal meth is a very costly drug. The rate in the market is approximately 1.5 crore rupees per kg,” pointed out the DGP.

Likewise, cough syrup totaling 28,000 bottles were recovered in 2022, 88,000 bottles in 2023, 112 bottles in the last two months.

On the recovery of stolen mobile phones across the state, 137 handsets were recovered in 2022, 408 in 2023 and 30 so far in 2024.

Vehicle recoveries in 2022 totalled 67 vehicles, which went up to 157 in 2023. So far, 12 vehicles have been recovered, this year.

The police chief also explained that the total drug cost of the seizure, when going by the existing market rate, totalled a shocking Rs 75 crores in 2022.

This figure rose dramatically to Rs 170 crore in 2023, whereas in 2024 nearly 21 crore rupees worth of drugs have already been recovered.

“So, nearly Rs 300 Crore worth of drugs were recovered during the last two years,” said Bishnoi.

Giving an example on a drug heist in the state, he mentioned about an operation conducted by Ri Bhoi police that led to the seizure of pure grade marijuana totalling 4,750 kgs which came Hala district of Tripura, revealing that peddlers and smugglers are using the road transport route to shift their consignments.

“The state is still very sensitive because of its close proximity to the Golden Triangle areas. Earlier it was a transit but now it has become both destination and transit point,” confirmed the DGP.

He also said that the number of consumers or drug abusers in the state is continuously increasing which is a worrying sign for one and all.

To tackle this menace, Meghalaya police has adopted certain strategy like creating awareness, generating awareness, particularly among the youth by organizing awareness program in the school, college and university and also continuously operations against the drug traffickers.

Many of the drug traffickers are repeated offenders and many of them belong to interstate gangs, it was revealed.

We are also using technologies to nab that drug traffickers and our Special Branch and the CIDs are playing a pivotal role in using technology to trace the backward and forward linkages of the drug traffickers, says Bishnoi.

He added that Meghalaya police is regularly sharing their inputs with the adjoining states so that the coordinated efforts can be put to control these problems.

Mentioning the efforts of the law enforcement agency in aiding the rehabilitation process, the DGP said that across many police stations, counseling cells have been opened to that the drug victims can be counselled. This is done by inviting the family members to the sessions, said Bishnoi.

Involving the media to spread awareness, particularly by publishing news frequently about the dangers of abuse and the drugs recoveries are also aiding the authorities in its fight against the menace, said the DGP.

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