News Tamil Nadu

BJP’s SG Suryah Fact-Checks DMK IT Wing Over Rising Drug Menace In Tamil Nadu

March 3, 2024
The Commune

After DMK’s former NRI wing office bearer Jaffer Sadiq was found to be the kingpin of a massive drug racket, there has been a state-wide crackdown on drugs by the Central agencies. A raid conducted at the Madurai railway station led to successful seizure 30 kg of methamphetamine from Pilliman Prakash.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence conducted a well-coordinated operation resulting in the confiscation of a combined 36 kg of the drug. This included a seizure of the substance from a rail passenger at Madurai railway station and an additional six kg recovered from the Kodungaiyur dump yard in Chennai, as reported by the central agency. Authorities seized methamphetamine with a street value of ₹180 crore, intended for transportation to Sri Lanka.

A total of 36 kg of the drug was seized by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence – from the rail passenger at the Madurai railway station, and another six kg from the Kodungaiyur dump yard in Chennai – in a meticulously planned operation, the central agency said.

Many on social media expressed concerns of a growing and casual prevalence of drug availability in different parts of Tamil Nadu. Zoho Founder Sridhar Vembu had posted on X that synthetic drugs have found their way in the interior villages of Tenkasi with many youngsters becoming addicts.

Apart from the growing concern over drug menace in Tamil Nadu, the DMK found itself on the backfoot as Udhayanidhi Stalin had himself met the drug racket kingpin Jaffer Sadiq, and so the party’s IT Wing (Wing 2.0) had tried to point fingers at the drug situation in other states.

In light of this, a dispute unfolded between the Tamil Nadu BJP State Secretary, Dr. SG Suryah, and the DMK IT Wing, amid the widespread assertion and critique from various political entities and online communities that Tamil Nadu is

The DMK IT wing shared information referencing a report by Puthiya Thalaimurai news channel, which in turn drew its data from the Ministry of Home Affairs’ response to the Rajya Sabha on 13 December 2023. According to the news card, the quantities of opium-based drugs seized under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act from 2020 to 2022 were as follows: 219,287.62 kgs in 2020, 247,639.963 kgs in 2021, and 321,121.384 kgs in 2022. Rajasthan claimed the top spot, followed by Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Manipur, Gujarat, Haryana, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Nagaland, and Tamil Nadu securing the 20th position in the list.

Swiftly countering the narrative presented by the DMK IT wing, SG Suyah, the state secretary, challenged the assertions and inquired, “Each state has to submit the number of arrest under the NDPS Act to the NCB Bureau every month. According to this account:

2018 – 4594
2019 – 5631
2020 – 7198
2021 – 9632
2022 – 588
2023 – 163 cases reported.

Why hasn’t Tamil Nadu pursued legal action under the NDPS Act and reported it to the NCB Bureau, allowing drug offenders to go unchecked without arrests?

Is Chief Minister @mkstalin creating a false image about Tamil Nadu for political survival by saving the drug offenders?”

Critics suggest that the most drug-affected states like Punjab and north-east states have significant border connections with Pakistan and Myanmar respectively. Manipur is particularly vulnerable due to loosely packed borders and its location in the golden quadrilateral of drug trafficking. Other regions face similar issues, either sharing borders with enemy countries linked to terrorism or being affected by Naxal activities. State governments, in collaboration with the Indian armed forces, regularly conduct operations to counteract these challenges, responding swiftly to solid intelligence.

For instance, Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh of Manipur, in office since 2017, has been dedicated to tackling drug trafficking in the state, resulting in notable drug seizures from 2018 to 2023.

Some key instances include:
– June 2018: Intercepting drugs valued at ₹40 crores at the residence of the ADC chairman.
– June 2019: Uncovering a heroin manufacturing lab during a raid, leading to the recovery of drugs worth ₹100 crores.
– August 2019: Dismantling an illegal drug manufacturing facility, seizing 184.644 kg of brown sugar valued at ₹166 crores.
– November 2019: Seizing contraband items valued at over ₹28 lakhs.

Significant drug busts continued in subsequent years:
– February 2020: Seizing drugs valued at ₹120 crores.
– November 2020: Intercepting around 72 kg of brown sugar.
– December 2020: Coordinated operation resulting in raids at two locations in Moreh, seizing narcotics and contraband items valued at over ₹165 crores.

The years 2021 and 2022 witnessed a series of substantial drug seizures involving party drugs, brown sugar, heroin, and other substances, with estimated values ranging from crores to hundreds of crores of rupees.

Under Biren Singh’s administration, there was a strong emphasis on the “War on Drugs” in 2022, resulting in numerous arrests and drug seizures totaling ₹1,228 crores.

In 2023, anti-drug efforts persisted with multiple arrests, significant heroin seizures, and operations conducted by Assam Rifles and the Manipur Police.

Contrastingly, states like Tamil Nadu, which do not face direct threats from cross border smuggling or Naxal-affected regions, are gaining attention with high prevalence of synthetic drugs.

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