Beyond Barriers

Guwahati, June 8: Local drug peddlers are sourcing pure grade heroin from Manipur and selling it to addicts here after mixing it with powdered sleeping pills, boric powder and even maida, among other substances, to double their profits.

A CID source said local drug peddlers were getting high-quality heroin, manufactured in laboratories located along the Myanmar side of the international border, from organised drug cartels based in Manipur.

Manipur is one of the transit points of smuggling heroin, involving international syndicates. The dreaded drug comes through Moreh, a border town in Chandel district.

“We cannot be sure about the exact volume of heroin trade. However, a rough estimate says about 20 to 30kg of heroin comes to Manipur from Myanmar every year before it is transported to other parts of the country and cities abroad,” Khangembam Birachandra, officer-in-charge of Narcotics and Affairs of Border, said. The department is a part of the state police that deals solely with drug trafficking.

According to the CID source, the heroin which was smuggled into the city was usually of high purity, ranging between 60 and 80 per cent. The purity of heroin indicates the percentage of diacetylmorphine (the chemical name for heroin) in it.

“Local peddlers adulterate the pure grade heroin with powdered sleeping pills like diazepam or alprazolam tablets, boric powder, maida and other substances, before selling it to addicts to maximise profits,” he said.

“Information available with us is that they (peddlers) generally adulterate 1kg of pure grade heroin with those substances to make it 3 to 4kg and then sell it,” the source said.

A kilo of heroin is valued at Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh at Moreh. The price goes up to Rs 50lakh to Rs 60 lakh in the international market.

The CID sleuths on Monday arrested such a peddler, Basanta Kumar Sharma alias Basanta Singh, 50, and his wife Binodini Devi, 45, and recovered heroin weighing 52.4g from a rented house at Japorigog in the city.

“The heroin recovered from him had purity level of 85 per cent,” the CID source said.

“During interrogation the accused told us that a Naga woman from Senapati district of Manipur had supplied the heroin,” he said. He, however, declined to disclose her name.

“The accused told us that they used to get 200mg of pure grade heroin at a cost of Rs 800 and sell the same to the addicts here for Rs 1,600. If they adulterate it, their profit doubles or triples and that makes peddling heroin a big and lucrative business,” the source said.

Based on the confession made by the accused, the CID raided the residence of another drug peddler, Sushil Boro, 45, at Kharghuli in the city.

The CID officials did not find Boro at home but recovered 34 capsules of Spasmoproxyvon, 17 Nitrosun tablets, 540 disposable syringes and other items.

The source said heroin was produced through a series of chemical processes.

“Heroin is synthesized from morphine, which is a derivative of poppy seeds. Morphine is processed with acetic anhydride at a very high temperature of around 100 degrees Celsius in laboratories in order to produce heroin. A number of such laboratories which are producing heroin are located in Myanmar, bordering Manipur,” he said.

Birachandra said, “We have regular meetings with the Drug Control Bureau of Myanmar once every three months. We discuss strategies to check cross-border smuggling. However, the problem continues to exist. Until and unless there is a well-coordinated effort between the two countries, it would be very difficult to check smuggling of heroin.”