Udta Bihar?

 By Md Qaisar Alam

Are narcotics becoming substitutes for alcoholic drinks in the dry state of Bihar?

Madhepura: Bihar may not be an Udta Bihar, but if things are not checked Udta Punjab can happen to Bihar. The non-availability or difficulty-in-procuring liquor in dry Bihar is enticing addicts to go for contraband substances.

As drugs wag their tails to replace alcohol in Bihar, this scenario precipitates the much-awaited opportunities for criminals and anti-social elements in the state, who are increasingly turning to not just supply narcotics in the State, but also make Bihar a transit point for drugs. Local conduits are emerging, which have joined the inter-state drug trafficking supply chain with much ease as Bihar is strategically located – kissing Nepal on the one hand, and brushing along with West Bengal and Northeastern Region (NER) on the other.

In recent months, a good number of armed criminals have been apprehended – many of whom were found to be possessing Ganja. A few days ago, Madhepura police arrested on a tiff off that some criminals were planning to commit major crimes at Singheshwar Sthan near Madhepura town. A hurriedly formed team of policemen cornered and arrested three dreaded criminals including Pratyush Kumar, Rajesh Kumar and Raja Kumar. From their possession, two country-made firearms as well as 378 grams of Ganja were recovered.

 A few months back, Madhepura police recovered a substantial quantity of smack near Uda Kishuganj. As of now, Ganja appears to be the main contraband item that is doing the rounds. But, the lab-manufactured drugs such as smack have already found their way to the Kosi and Purnea divisions. The neighbouring district of Purnea reportedly witnesses the growing consumption of smack by millennial youth. Being a medical and business hub, Purnea has become a richer city. With its people turning affluent, smack gets a notable foothold over there.

Recently, the Madhepura police recovered 180 kgs of fine Ganja from the possession of smugglers travelling in a West Bengal registered ambulance in the Puraini area that falls under Uda Kishunganj subdivision of the Madhepura district.

“For us, the recovery of such a large quantity of Ganja came in as a big surprise. This was probably the first instance of a large quantity of contraband consignment attempted to be smuggled through our district”, says Rajesh Kumar, Superintendent of Police, Madhepura district.

“We find increasing stances of Ganja being recovered from criminals. It appears that outlaws have gone into supplying narcotics to local clientele. They address the growing demand for Ganja as an alternative to liquor,” says Kumar.

The place where the ambulance was intercepted and Ganja was confiscated is notable as it falls in an area interconnected by national highway 131 (NH 131), state highway 58 (SH 58) and national highway 31 (NH 31). The SH 58, which branches out from NH 131 at Uda Kishunganj connects with NH 31 near Naugachia through the recently commissioned ‘Vijay Ghat Bridge’, which is built over the mighty river, the Kosi. The bridge provides excellent connectivity to large swathes of towns and cities in Bihar, Nepal and the Northeastern states of India.

Of late, a large network of pitch roads – constructed by both the Central as well as the Bihar governments – crisscross the Kosi and Seemanchal areas of the state. So, the movement of people and goods in this part of the state has become quite easy and efficient. Some two decades back, the road infrastructure in this belt was in truly bad shape, but gradually things changed. Today, a high-density network of macadamized roads comprising the state highways, the national highways and the golden quadrilateral highway system have changed the transportation outlook of the eastern part of the state.

But all these sagas of progress have created an unintended situation, where criminals and smugglers also find these well-connected highways quite beneficial in transporting their contraband consignments to desired destinations. The efficient highway system in this part of Bihar is now reportedly attracting inter-state smugglers of psychotropic substances. The discovery of such a large shipment of Ganja at Puraini points out a new trend picking up where the SH 58 and the ‘Vijay Ghat Bridge’ looks to be emerging as promising alternate route for transporting narcotics.

In an interaction with Global Bihari, Kumar opines, “In my view, the consignment confiscated was not from Nepal; rather, I suspect it originating from the Northeastern states as the ambulance bore the registration number of West Bengal”. Kumar sounds logical as the route through the ‘Vijay Ghat bridge’ might have become attractive to drug traffickers. However, this is quite possible that drug cartels may also source Nepali Ganja and combine it with the same sourced from the Northeast. The collective consignments from the Northeast and Nepal can create many problems for Bihar and the neighbouring states.

Let us not forget that the Northeast lies in close proximity to the Golden Triangle, which is one of the world’s biggest drug-sourcing and supplying zones in the world consisting of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. In that sense, the Northeast is the gateway to the most lethal geographical area that produces many types of narcotics.

However, the Madhepura district police are getting increasingly aware of the criticality of the SH 58 and the ‘Vijay Ghat Bridge’. In fact, it keeps the district police on their toes. “We keep strict vigil in this transport corridor. This is located in a strategically sensitive area. All the police stations in the Uda Kishunganj division – be it Puraini, Chausa or Alam Nagar – stay on high alert. We do very strict policing in the entire area. Random checking of vehicles is carried out on a regular basis. We’re also keeping our intelligence assets on full alert,” says Kumar.

But, the problem does not lie only in the fact that eastern Bihar is increasingly being used as the transit point for transporting narcotics to other parts of the country; rather, the biggest worry lies in the fact that Bihar itself is increasingly turning into a potential market for drug peddlers. In September 2022, Delhi Police busted an international gang of drug traffickers and recovered narcotics worth Rs 60 crore. Two members of the cartel, Abhishek Raja and Nizamuddin were arrested from Bihar. This is notable that the recovered drugs were smuggled into India from Myanmar via Manipur. The arrested persons and their accomplices had been supplying drugs in the Delhi NCR region as well as other states. Earlier in 2021, in Patna, the Narcotics Control Bureau in a joint operation with Patna Police apprehended drug smugglers and confiscated a substantial amount of morphine along with arms and ammunition.       

Informed sources say the strict imposition of the prohibition law on the sale and consumption of liquor in the state has opened up another opportunity for bad guys who enter into the murky world of drug supply, especially Ganja, and to some extent smack.

Bihar imposed complete prohibition in 2016. Since then, the state has registered reasonable success in enforcing the ban on the supply and intake of alcoholic beverages. But, informed sources say this has created a problem for habitual consumers of liquor. It is here when narcotics knock at the doors of such deviants. While the state administration already grapples with controlling the smuggling and distribution of imported and Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) as well as spurious drinks, narcotics have turned out to be yet another menace. With alcohol down and relatively out of the game, narcotics rush in to fill up the void created.

“With the success of prohibition in the state, we’re observing that narcotics are turning into promising substitutes for alcoholic drinks. There is a definitive willingness on the part of habitual alcoholic addicts who don’t mind going for drugs to quench their urge for liquor. Moreover, some millennial youth have also been falling into the temptation of using drugs. Out of their youthful machismo and adventurism, they tend to give narcotics a try. Their subterranean desire for consuming psychotropic substances attracts drug cartels and suppliers to zero in on Bihar. And all these also attract local criminals and anti-social elements, who join the wider supply-chain networks of contraband substances,” says Kumar. He views Ganja as the choicest narcotic in demand as this is relatively cheaper. The compulsive alcoholic addicts find it affordable as other lab-processed drugs like smack and heroin are expensive.

Compounding the problem is also the long history of Nepali Ganja making inroads into Bihar. People are largely aware of it across the state. The availability and consumption of Nepali Ganja were earlier perceived to be innocuous acts.  Its supply was not organized and it was not cartelized by crime syndicates. Smuggled into Bihar by poor porters and menials, Nepali Ganja didn’t disturb social order as such. Its consumers were largely rustic and somewhat ostracised people branded as Ganjeris. But now, Nepali Ganja can lose its innocence as organized crime syndicates may also source Nepali Ganja and combine it with the same procured from the Northeast. 

So, all these developments are enough to caution the administrative machinery and law enforcement agencies about the danger of drugs lurking around the state. While, the much-discussed alcohol prohibition in Bihar largely succeeds in effecting desired social transformation and bringing in much relief especially to the poor womenfolk – as their toiling husbands don’t splurge their hard-earned wages on buying intoxicants – this new problem has struck largely the eastern parts of Bihar covering Kosi and Purnea divisions, where the supply and consumption of narcotics such as Ganja (Marijuana) and even smack have taken definitive roots.

Intelligence inputs suggest it is very much likely that other parts of the state, too, are experiencing the same menace of drugs though not much has been reported either by the police or media. The Madhepura police have picked up these early signs; however, other districts in other parts of the state can take a cue from it. Strict vigil must be maintained to checkmate any organized supply of narcotics by smugglers and local crime syndicates. The twin evils of Ganja and smack need to be exorcised here in Bihar.

Therefore, this is high time for the Prohibition, Excise and Registration Department, Government of Bihar (GoB), and Narcotics Control Bureau of India to work with even greater synergy for thwarting decisively the growing menace of drugs in the state. On the strategic map of India, Bihar dispenses with a crucial role as a strong fortress that defends the eastern flank of the nation.  So, the local criminals must not be allowed to strike deeper and sustained connections with drug cartels of the Northeast, which are well organized and capable of running a wider network of drug supply in India. All these have ramifications for national security as well.