Shillong: A division bench of the Meghalaya High Court has directed the Army to deploy teams of flying army checkers along the route to make surprise checks if drugs are carried in their vehicles.
The bench comprising of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Wanlura Diengdoh on Wednesday passed the order after some inmates of Correctional Homes, Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) informed the Amicus Curiae S.P. Mahanta that “high-ranking defence personnel may have been roped in for the safe passage of the drugs”.
“Since Meghalaya falls within the transit route of drugs emanating from a neighbouring country or going to such neighbouring country, there is a modus operandi which is being followed and, quite alarmingly, recently an Army Major from Imphal had been implicated in facilitating the transit of drugs,” Mahanta informed the Court.
“Unbelievable though such allegation is, it has to be noticed nonetheless that according to the relevant inmate drugs are sometimes transported in army trucks, which are generally immune from checking,” Banerjee and Diengdoh said.
“If what is reported is true, there must also be intelligence reports received by the State in such regard and the Chief Secretary should coordinate with, inter alia, the Army and Assam Rifles, both to make the highest officials aware of the problem and for immediate action being taken,” the bench stated in its order.
The Court directed the General-Officer Commanding, 101 Area and the Director-General, Assam Rifles to verify the position and take immediate remedial action.
