GUWAHATI, AUG 30:
More than 26,500 people have been arrested and drugs worth Rs 3,253 crore seized across Assam since 2021, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Sunday.
He said huge quantities of narcotic substances originate in Myanmar, and enter Assam through various routes in Mizoram and Manipur for further distribution in the rest of India.
“Since 2021, with a single-minded focus on our mission #AssamAgainstDrugs, our police and allied agencies have waged a relentless, daily battle against the narcotics trade. The numbers tell their own story — narcotics worth more than Rs 3,253 crore seized, and over 26,500 offenders arrested since the campaign began,” Sarma said in a social media post.
He said the number of arrests has climbed steadily each year from 4,175 in 2021 to 4,901 in 2025, asserting this was not a one-time drive but a “sustained and institutionalised war” on drugs.
In 2021, Sarma became the chief minister for the first time after the BJP came to power in Assam for the second consecutive term.
Talking about the origin and route of the drug movement, the CM said, “Assam sits on a difficult geography — a transit corridor for narcotics originating in Myanmar and routed through Mizoram and Manipur before moving deeper into the country.” Kingpins often operate beyond Assam’s borders, which is precisely why this cannot be the state’s fight alone, he said.
“This is where the prime minister’s leadership and the Centre’s unwavering support have made a real difference — intensified coordination with Myanmar, strengthened surveillance along inter-state borders, sharper intelligence sharing and deployment of technology that helps our forces intercept consignments before they spread further,” Sarma said.
He further said that the Assam Police have not worked in isolation, but have worked as an extension of a national resolve to eliminate the menace of drugs.
Listening to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s monthly radio address ‘Mann Ki Baat’, which was on the drug menace, Sarma said, “I was thinking about how the fight against drugs cannot be a fragmented effort — it must be a national mission carried forward with equal resolve at the Centre and in every state.”
The PM’s vision of a ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat’ (addiction-free India) and ‘Nasha Mukt Yuva for Viksit Bharat Sankalp Abhiyan’ (addiction-free youth for developed India pledge campaign) speaks to something Assam has believed in and acted upon for years — youth are the greatest asset and protecting them from the poison of narcotics is the sworn duty, he added.
“Prime Minister Modi ji has always said that addiction is neither cool nor a style statement; drugs bring only destruction and devastation to families and communities. Thus, his ‘Nasha Mukt Yuva for Viksit Bharat Sankalp Abhiyan’, with a hundred weeks of grassroots engagement reaching crores of young Indians, is a call to every state to match energy with intent,” Sarma said.
Assam answers that call with pride as a frontline partner in a mission central to India’s future, he added.
“As Prime Minister Modi ji leads the nation towards a Nasha Mukt Bharat, Assam will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Centre relentless, coordinated and uncompromising — until the drug network across our borders is fully dismantled and every young Assamese grows up free from this menace,” the CM said.
He said that Assam’s fight will not pause, knowing full well the scale of the challenge.
“Every seizure means a family protected and a future secured. Few weeks back, we publicly destroyed seized contraband worth Rs 472+ crore at Nalbari — driving home the message that what is seized will never re-enter the homes of any Assamese family,” Sarma added. (Source: PTI)
