KCP has alleged that criminals related to illegal drug trade have been detained and arrested but “it appears that they were offered means of evading imprisonment”.
TFM Desk
The proscribed Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) is of the view that that political elites in Manipur “strongly encourage” illegal drug trade. The outfit has alleged, “Nearly every day, not just the drug but also those people connected to the drug trade have been detained throughout the state. Yet, there have been no reports of the arrest of the state’s top drug traffickers or those responsible for the cultivation of poppies”.
In a message forwarded its central committee to news media on the occasion of its 43rd anniversary, KCP has alleged that criminals related to illegal drug trade have been detained and arrested but “it appears that they were offered means of evading imprisonment”.
Delving in detail on the issue of drugs and crime, the proscribed KCP reminded that a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says majority of the illicit opium and drugs manufactured from it originate in the Golden Crescent of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, as well as the Golden Triangle of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand.
Among them, Afghanistan is the country that produces the highest amount of opium followed by Myanmar. In the year 2022, Afghanistan produced 6200 tons of opium from 233000 hectares of land. On the other hand, Myanmar produced 790 metric tons of opium from an area of 40,100 hectares. In the last three decades, a large amount of heroin and hashish produced from the Golden Crescent and the Golden Triangle went to other places after they first reached India. Further, the report stated that India was also the largest seller of opium across the world, according to the report. Starting from the production of a kind of drug called ‘china white’ from raw opium in the Golden Triangle in the 1970’s by a Kuomintang trained Warlord known as Khun Sa, the drug trade is still going strong by many drug lords across the country producing different types of drugs such as heroin, opium, and WY/Yaba tablets, said the proscribed outfit.
These drugs come from Myanmar via states that share borders with Myanmar, like Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh, to the WESEA region (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura). These drugs have passed through Moreh for Manipur and Champhai for Mizoram for a long time, and Champhai and Moreh are WESEA border towns. As everyone is aware, Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine, which are known as ‘Chemical Precursors’ for the synthesis of Amphetamine and Amphetamine Type Substance (ATS), are being transported from India to Myanmar through these routes. It is common knowledge that India produces at least 500 tons of Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine every year.
The outfit while tracing the history of illegal drugs in Manipur said that in the 1970s, drugs infiltrated Kanglei society, leaving a painful impact on everyone. Basically, this is due to the fact that all drugs are passing through Manipur on the way to other destinations. Morphine, Heroin or No. 4, Poldrom, Mandrake, Hypogen were abundantly available in Manipur during the period 1970-1980, and sons of rich families in Manipur used these drugs as a fashion item during that period, said KCP.
The youths of Manipur irrespective of their income level and class were eventually affected. In the early 1980s, there were many drug users who had become HIV positive as a result of using drugs. There were approximately 15000 to 20,000 injecting drug users (IDUs) in Manipur in the year 1990. It is estimated that in 2001 there were 14000 IDUs in Imphal alone, out of which about 5% to 10% were women. The population of IDU in Manipur in 2009 was estimated by a few non-profit organizations to be 34,500, mentioned the outfit.
KCP pointed out that the use of syringes had become a major cause of HIV/AIDS spreading in Manipur. As a result of using drugs, a lot of young people who were of sound health became ill and weak and a lot of them had died untimely due to their condition. A report conducted by the INDIA HIV EXAMINATION 2017 shows that Mizoram has the highest HIV positive rate among the states in the country, followed by Manipur.
“There are, however, a few other intoxicants that we do not consider to be as important as the ones mentioned above, and these include Zarda Kwa, Keini, Ganja, Beer, Rum, Whisky, liquors made in sekmai, Andro and Phayeng. As a result of using them, many people have already passed away before our very eyes”, said KCP.
The outfit continued, “During the 1990s, a large number of School going young people started using Dendrite and Erax-es (an ink remover) as a drug. They later used pharmaceutical products such as Phenshydyl, Corex, Epidex, Sericodine, Bonolex, Proxyvon, Parvon Spas, Spasmo Proxyvon (SP), Diazepam, Valium and Nitrogen 10 (N10) as drugs in which many people had died due to overdosing on them”.
“Kanglei society had witnessed innumerable anti-social things like theft, murder, and other crimes because of drugs. How is it possible for these people who are addicted to drugs to become an important man who loves his nation? Because of them, even their parents, siblings, and relatives stopped getting involved with social issues, said KCP.
Globally, there are 284 million drug users, according to UNODC reports. Almost everyone in Manipur, young and old, uses drugs these days. This means that the drug is being sold in the state of Manipur, which indicates once again that the drug is still being manufactured and imported into the state of Manipur. It is almost a daily occurrence that the Manipur police arrest drug users, importers and manufacturers. In the past, Manipur was merely a route that drugs such as Morphine and Heroin travelled through the state on their way to other parts of the country. “It is now a different story as the poppy have been massively planted in the hills of Manipur and heroin and morphine are manufactured in the valleys. The drug lords in both the hills and the valley are working together. A lot like a leaked mud barrage, it is quite hard to control the sale of drugs, their use, the manufacture of drugs, and the importation of drugs”, observed KCP.
The outfit further highlighted an army PRO, Colonel Ajoy Kumar Choudhury was detained by Manipur police on February 24, 2013 at Palen, Manipur, along with pseudoephedrine tablets worth Rs. crore 30. Lhukhosei Zou, the Chairman of the Autonomous District Council, was detained by the Manipur Police on June 20, 2018, at his official residence in Imphal with drugs valued at 28 crores, said KCP.
The outfit highlighted that a heroin plant in the Lilon Dam area was demolished on June 29, 2019, with the assistance of ANJUMAN, and three people—Md. Matalip, 40; Samim Pusham, 35; and Md. Serajuddin Mohammad, 29—were detained with drugs estimated to be worth 100 crores. The Thoubal Police dismantled a plant that produced Heroin Brown sugar on June 14, 2022 in Thoubal Moijing, Mina Bazaar. One Thoubalmayum Ahamad Bibi was detained on the same day together with 2.85 kg of brown sugar. The Kakching District police had detained Havildar Kh. Achouba, Rifleman Th. Subhash Chothe, Constable Y. Dineshwar Meitei, Rifleman M. Premchandra, and Rifleman N. Dorendrajit on January 16, 2023, along with heroin powder and WY tablets weighing 1.333 and 9.151 kilograms, respectively, and rupees 80,000 in cash from Moreh.
Not only these, a special cell of the Delhi Police detained Ranveer Singh alias Tingku and Loyangamba on February 17, 2023, on MB Road in Delhi, with 20 kg of opium that may have been worth 10 crores. They are reportedly part of the “Itocha International Drug Cartel,” and they reside in Manipur. Also, it was said that Loyangamba was related to a well-known Minister, said KCP.
Khulapam Abdul alias Raghu (32) s/o late Md. Suyub Ali and Khuleibam Muhamudin alias Ibocha (60), S/O late Md. Angou, were caught with weapons and a large amount of drugs on March 12, 2023 by the Thoubal Police District Commando with a squad of female police.
On March 31, 2023, Manipur government officials announced through the media that opium crops on 3517.8 acres of land were destroyed in 2022. Drugs worth 25.36 crores were seized in 2023. Opium crops on 787.3 acres of land were destroyed in 2023. It was said that numerous village chiefs participated in the eradication of poppy fields growing in the hills, said KCP.
“By just worrying about their own profit, drug lords have commodified the people of Manipur. They had already killed numerous people by drawing them into drug traps, and they are still doing it. Both drug users and non-users will soon be crushed in the society we live in today”, observed KCP.
In Manipur’s hill districts, there is extensive deforestation so that poppies can be grown. The hillsides have all turned into deserts. An ecological imbalance can be seen on the hill slopes of Manipur. “We have noticed an unnaturally rapid population growth in the hills. On the hills, a lot of new villages have recently sprang up, as well. This could be a result of the current political unrest in the neighbouring country. The situation is urgent. It is terrifying to think about how our history will be in the future. It has had a negative impact on our ecology and environment”, said the proscribed KCP.
The wildlife and flora in the hills will be negatively impacted by the insecticides, herbicides, and various chemicals used in poppy plantations. All of the water sources in the hills have dried up due to deforestation. It is more than obvious that if the trend continues at this rate, our land will soon become uninhabitable.
KCP pointed out that there are four main reasons why an area’s ecology and environment have been damaged. Overpopulation, climate change, deforestation, and acid rain are among them. “Our current situation is extremely comparable to the above situations. Rich people abuse the poor people, whereas the impoverished are totally reliant on the natural world. Now, in addition to poverty, the poor will suffer from ecological imbalance. Not only do humans suffer from this ecological catastrophe, but also all other living beings. It’s likely that our land will become uninhabitable”, said KCP in the message.
Recalling the Opium War in China, KCP said that following the First and Second Opium Wars (1839–42) and the Second Opium War (1856–60), China’s political status was reduced from that of a sovereign state to one that was semi-colonial and semi-feudal. Due to colonialism, Chinese people suffer from being humiliated and degraded, and their once-proud culture has entered a dark period.
According to a UNODC assessment, more than ten million Chinese youngsters have developed opium addiction as a result of the British Empire’s approval of the importation of opium from India to China. This has had an especially negative impact on China’s coastal regions, said KCP.
The addiction of opium had so profoundly damaged Chinese culture by the middle of the 19th century that its foundational principles had been shattered. Since then, the dream of all Chinese people, even Chinese nationalists, has been to rebuild their country. In the 1950s, Mao Zedong’s government subjugated China’s reactionary and antisocial forces and laboriously eradicated opium users and producers in order to restructure Chinese society. Opium growers were dispersed to the southern Chinese border, where they eventually established in the golden triangle region, observed KCP.
“Such unpleasant aspects of society as are occurring in Kanglei society currently were not present when the revolutionary people coexisted with our people in our society. People were incredibly close to the revolutionaries, and everything ran smoothly. A revolutionary movement’s natural tendency is to oppose regressive social conditions and bring about better changes. How can society advance without facing challenges, asked KCP.
The outfit said that there is the inability to address what caused the core value of society to be destroyed and alleged that academics, intellectuals and scholars in Manipur seem to have “no guts to talk about the critical social issues that face the state today”.
“The last six decades have seen a number of revolutionary leaders who have been in a state of lax morality. It is important for us to never behave in a manner in which the history of the Kanglei revolutionary movement cannot forgive us for our actions. It is unlikely that a revolution led by immoral leaders with a defeatist attitude will last for a long time. As soon as they are put to the test, those who pretend to be hardcore revolutionaries will show their true colors when the time comes. The leaders who have the vision to see the future and who are equipped with a revolutionary theory and high sacrifice spirit will be the ones to continue fighting the revolutionary struggle”, said KCP.
The outfit further said, “We also need to bounce back in order to resuscitate the Kanglei society in a similar manner as Chinese society did. It is now the time for both the underground revolutionaries as well as the people to put all our efforts together to go beyond the current limits in which we are currently trapped. In the event that we don’t take action now, it will be like watering a dead plant that has already dried out. There will be no one to save us from this situation. We are the ones who are responsible for determining our future”.