Staff Reporter

Shillong, Sept 19: Opposition AITC leader and former chief minister Mukul Sangma today sought to know the status of the drugs seized by the State police.

“What happened to the drugs seized by the police during the different occasions?” Sangma asked while raising a supplementary query during the question hour in he Assembly.

He said usually, the state police used to inform the public as to what has been done to such seizures.

Sangma also said petty peddlers are being arrested but who are the kingpins? He further asserted the need to speed up the charge sheeting of NDPS-related cases.

In his reply, deputy chief minister in-charge home (police) Prestone Tynsong said the menace of drugs in Meghalaya is not only a state problem but is also a national and an international problem.

“As far as the state government is concerned, we have now recently notified the advisory board under the PITNDPS to deal with those arrested people, who deal with the supply or who are involved in the spreading of drugs throughout the state,” he said.

“This advisory board is in place. Once police arrested those people, the criminals cannot just easily come out of the jail as according to the board they can even recommend to 2 years time (of imprisonment),” Tynsong added.

The Ri-Bhoi District Police on Wednesday arrested two drug peddlers including one woman and recovered a drug consignment from them.

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Reportedly, the drug peddlers were transporting the consignment from Tripura to Bihar in a tourist bus bearing registration number AS 01LC 1412, where they were arrested by the ANTF Team Ri Bhoi District in a Naka check at around 9 AM in Byrnihat.

The two drug peddlers have been identified as Rohit Kumar Mogalpura Barkhat Khan Ka Akhara, Jhauganj, Bihar and Premlata Devi of Panchayat Lagar, Gram Timapur Lagar, Bihar. A total of five packages of different sizes of illegal contraband and two mobile phones were seized from the two arrested.

Preliminary testing suggests that the recovered contraband was around 16.2 kg and the test result of the preliminary test conducted on the spot showed positive for Marijuana.

Meanwhile, the two have been booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and further investigation is underway.

Staff Reporter

Shillong, March 13: Countering the claim made by the Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said that Mukroh is well within Meghalaya territory.

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“Our stand is very clear that Mukroh is well within Meghalaya. Even till this moment it is under the possession of Meghalaya,” Tynsong told reporters.

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He was reacting to Sarma’s statement informing the Assam Assembly that Mukroh is within the boundary of Assam and is under the jurisdiction of the West Karbi Anglong district.

On November 22, last year six persons including five Khasi villagers and one Assam forest guard were killed in an unprovoked firing by the Assam police at Mukroh village in West Jaintia Hills District.

When asked, Tynsong said, “I don’t know why such a statement was made by the Assam CM because now we are in the process of stepping into the second phase of talk. I personally feel he should not say that. It is very unfortunate if he had made the statement inside the House,” while reiterating “But let me tell you one more thing very clearly that Mukroh area falls under Meghalaya.”

The deputy chief minister ruled out that the state government will shoot a protest letter to the Assam government and said, “Not necessarily because the talk will start again so just wait for that.”

He informed that the government is working out on priority to reconstitute the regional committees to take the second phase of border talks forward for resolving the remaining six areas of difference shared between the two states.

“We have already made it very clear to the people of the state that the second phase of talks will start very soon so will work accordingly,” Tynsong said.

On March 29, last year a memorandum of understanding was signed between Assam and Meghalaya in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah ending the dispute in six of the twelve areas of difference.