Tripura to set up drive-through vehicle scanners to combat drug menace, says CM Saha

The Tripura government has taken multiple initiatives to combat the drug menace in the state including the opening of an Addiction Clinic OPD across the state and a full body scanner to scan the vehicle and drivers. 

While replying to a calling attention notice by TIPRA Motha MLA Brishaketu Debbarma on ‘Present Situation of Drug Addiction in Tripura’, the Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha said that Tripura is a small state and is covered by Bangladesh from three sides, drug smugglers are using the state as a corridor for the trade of narcotics.

“We have taken a series of steps to combat the drug menace in the state and to save the youth from the clutches of drug addiction. We have opened a special 10 bedded Drug de-addiction Centre in the Modern Psychiatric Hospital in which Addiction Clinic OPD has already been opened. Similar OPDs and de-addiction centres will also be opened in other parts of the state”, said CM.

He further said that the police have been given free hand and the drive against drugs and smugglers has also been intensified.

Also Read: Tripura: Four held with cannabis worth Rs 3 crore in state's Dhalai district

“We are arresting the drug smugglers and taking strong action against them. Apart from this, we have also drawn the attention of the Central government to the opening of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). Recently we have handed over some NDPS cases to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Tripura Police’s Crime Branch so that easily we can trace the drugs smugglers”, Dr Saha said.

Dr Saha who is also the Home Minister of the state said that in the last three years around 3.65 crores of saplings of cannabis were destroyed.

He said the cannabis produced here is exported to West Bengal, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh and in other parts of the country while the drugs are coming to Tripura from Myanmar and smuggled to Bangladesh.

“To scan the vehicle coming from outside of the state and even inside the state we are buying Full Body Scanners so that we have detected whether they are carrying narcotics or not. We have also brought 6 more sniffer dogs and more we will buy”, said Dr Saha.

While speaking on point of clarification, TIPRA Motha MLA Debbarma has suggested that Chief Minister Dr Saha form a committee comprising leaders from the ruling and opposition parties to combat the drug menace in the state and to save the youths.