Reports of massive drugs and narcotics haul and seizure by police in different parts of the country, of late, must not only be a cause of concern but the need to treating the scenario much beyond ordinary trafficking in drugs to not only weaken the social fabric of this country, cause physical wracking of the young human resources but to run a parallel economy . The mode increasingly used to fund terrorism and violent activities confined not to the chosen pockets of the country but perhaps with increased tentacles in the near future stretched far and wide across the country need to be duly and fully taken cognisance of . Not only in Jammu and Kashmir have we been experiencing this menace gaining more deep roots day by day despite a hot ”pursuit ” policy adopted by the police forces and other concerned agencies but even in Himachal Pradesh and particularly the UT of Ladakh , the scourge is seen raising its hoods as it has been found that Leh-Manali route is being brazenly but increasingly used to bring in drugs so as to bring the entire cold desert region of Ladakh also under the deleterious effects of drugs use .
In this connection, it has got to be noted that the motive behind the spread of this poison on such a wide scale , is not only for commercial purposes and to earn money in heaps but much more beyond that which is to weaken rather crippling the young productive resources strength of the country on the whole. As we fairly know the conduct and the manner as also the pattern of the operation of drugs/ narcotics trafficking which is conducted very secretly and is most organised employing different strategies with different ways of camouflaging and evading detections , by that well established phenomenon , the seizures can best be termed proverbially as a drop in the bucket. Recent seizures of the substance in Shaheen Bagh Delhi valued at conservative levels at Rs.100 crore and during the past six months in Gujarat valued at Rs.25000 crore not to speak of other areas in the country point towards active involvement of not only the ”conventional” source channels but possibly international drug cartels in the most brutal and inhuman business of selling of and dealing otherwise in drugs and other narcotic substances. Involvement of ”narco-terrorism module” cannot be ruled out in any case and in respect of the “new find” of Leh-Manali route , it appears to be a part of the bigger sinister plan.
If the opinion, based on investigations of the overall structure of the drugs/ narcotics trafficking , by the authorities of the Narcotics Control Bureau are to be believed , it is found that the organised network is connected to Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle East. No wonder, the number of drug users has astonishingly increased many fold during the last couple of years in the country. It is , therefore, imperative that right from now, the UT Government of Ladakh chalks out proper strategy , appropriate plans , takes preventive and harsh punitive measures against drug smugglers and others engaged in the trade . It is quite imperative that it puts in place a well co-ordinated administrative mechanism to not only plug the smuggling routes along Leh- Manali and other Highways in the UT but how seizures, the chemical analysis and storage thereof, investigations, prosecutions and maximum convictions could take place to contain the spread of use of drugs in Ladakh . In this connection, reports that a meeting of the Narco Coordination Centre was held recently in Leh where officers from the police department as well as from the Narcotics Control Bureau participated, indicates that the gravity of the situation has been felt seriously .
Just see the chicanery and diabolical methods employed by the drug smugglers in that since the route is known to be thronged by the visitors not only from the country in itself but from other countries too , so the traffickers have found weak points or easy ways along the said route to push in drugs and establish a new market . It is ingrained in drugs trade that once a market is established in just an ordinary form, demand for the stuff keeps on increasing and at any cost the drugs and narcotic substances tried to be obtained due to the factor of addiction. This weakness of the prospective targeted victims is well known to the traffickers and, therefore, the trade gets well established. The possibility of the scourge having already taken some roots in the cold desert area cannot be ruled out and that there could be some addicts too hence drug de-addiction centres for treating and rehabilitating the affected too are needed to be set up . Conventional preventive measures like a well organised intelligence network, mass awareness programmes especially in educational institutions and the like must be initiated with participation of more stake holders. It is to be perceived that the war against the growing menace of drugs and narcotics trafficking is to be fought with equal force as is done against terrorism as the two are supplementary and complementary to each other and pose tremendous challenge in many ways to the people and the country on the whole.
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