Three years ago much before ethnic clashes broke out in Manipur in May 2023, we had written and warned about the entry of cross-border drug cartels in the state. The Lhukhosei Zou case was indeed an indicator of the ominous clouds in the horizon in the narcotic business. Lhukhosei Zou’s cross border connections and the relative ease with which he navigated between parties in power and extricated himself for the case had all the tell-tale signs of powerful forces in the narcotic business.
Considering the fallout in recent times, he could have just been a mere pawn in the ever-expanding tentacles of the drug lords in this remote corner of the earth. The shift of poppy cultivation in areas of Manipur might be a direct fallout of the diminishing trend in the Golden Triangle and Myanmar. Poppy cultivation was once found in small pockets of the hills bordering Myanmar about two decades ago. Word then was that, the poppy cultivators of the state sell their opium produce to small-time drug smugglers who operate mobile drug manufacturing units across the border.
Now, poppy cultivation is widespread in the hills of Manipur and several factors could have contributed to such an explosion. According to investigating agencies, poppy cultivation is rampant in Manipur as the same fetches more money than other crops and the farmers are also supported by the drug mafia and the cross-border network of illegal drug traders. Somehow, the overall drug scenario had changed so much in recent times that it facilitated the proliferation of home-grown drug manufacturing units within the boundaries of the state itself.
Decades ago, Manipur was just a transit point in drug smuggling originating from the infamous Golden Triangle, as it shares a 400 km long border with Myanmar. Acetic Anhydride and other acids used in manufacturing Heroin used to be smuggled from the Indian side through Manipur in large quantities then. The Golden Triangle is an area where the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet at the confluence of the Ruak and Mekong rivers.
The Golden Triangle is commonly used more broadly to refer to an area of approximately 950,000 square kilometres that overlaps the mountains of the three adjacent countries. It would be interesting to note that poppy cultivation and drug manufacturing units have not completely vanished from this part of the world, although it has diminished to a great extent.
There are still some players across the border. Here we must understand, a venture in large scale ‘illegal’ cultivation of poppy does not come out of the blue to some ‘enterprising’ hill chieftain or businessmen. Because there is always the matter of a risky investment and a reliable marketing network before embarking on such a venture. In short, one needs to be an old hand in the trade.
In the narcotics business, the kingpins are always on the lookout for ‘safe territories’ not just for poppy cultivation, but for a base where they control the political leaders, where they call the shots and from where they could independently conduct their business in ‘peace’ away from the prying eyes and hands of the international anti-drug agencies. In that wider strategy, Manipur became ripe for the final takedown.
The Kuki-Zo leaders might have political aspirations of their own in the search of an imagined homeland. That aspiration just became a handy tool for the drug lords for making moves in acquiring a safe territory for business. These drug lords do not care whether the young are dying and rotting from rampant drug abuse or poor villagers dying in an internecine war knowing not the cause of their ‘martyrdom’ and a place in the wall of remembrance.
