Shillong, Mar 30: The High Court of Meghalaya has directed checks on army vehicles in the wake of a recent report about an army major in Imphal facilitating transit of drugs.
Hearing a PIL on Wednesday, the division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W Diengdoh in its order 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.”
“It may also do well for teams of flying army checkers to be deployed along the route to make surprise checks on Army vehicles which are otherwise not subjected to checks by civilian personnel,” the bench added.
During the hearing, the amicus curiae submitted that Meghalaya falls in the transit route of drugs trading from a neighbouring country or going to such a neighbouring country.
The submission indicated that there was a modus operandi and pointed out that that the army major was implicated in facilitating drug transit.
The bench said “the meticulous work done by amicus curiae involved visiting Correctional Homes, Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) Centres and discovering from some inmates that for the safe passage of the drugs, high-ranking defence personnel may have been roped in”.
“Unbelievable though such an allegation is, it has to be noticed nonetheless that… drugs are sometimes transported in army trucks, which are generally immune from checking,” it said.
The bench directed that a copy of the order be reached to the General-Officer Commanding, 101 Area and also to the Director-General, Assam Rifles to verify the position and take immediate remedial action.
