Morung Express News Dimapur | November 29 The department of Excise & Prohibition destroyed a huge cache illicit liquor and drugs in Dimapur on November 29. Dubbed as among the largest consignments of impounded contrabands ever destroyed in Nagaland, the destruction was carried out at the Directorate of Excise & Prohibition in the presence of the Parliamentary Secretary for Excise, BS Nganlang Phom, the Commissioner of Excise, Tarep Imchen and a host of civil society representatives. The condemned consignment contained an assortment of IMFL brands, ganja, pharmaceutical psychotropic drugs and codeine-based cough syrup seized by the Dimapur district Excise, Mobile Squad and the Narcotic Cell. It contained in total 62,764 bottles of assorted IMFL; 1,29,102 spasmo proxyvon pills; 10,207 nitrazepam pills; 2080 kg of ganja and 1861 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup seized over different periods during the year. The street value of the destroyed contrabands was estimated at over Rs 1 crore. As per the department, the three units registered nearly a thousand cases, while booking as many offenders in connection to the cases and a total of Rs 29, 00,000 was realised as monetary penalty from the offenders. Parliamentary Secretary, Nganlang Phom, in his address held that the Excise department as an enforcement agency is expected to continue its commitment towards upholding the NLTP Act and controlling the menace of illicit drugs. While stating that mass involvement is required, he added that the Excise personnel are doing a commendable job despite all the shortcomings in terms of manpower and logistics. Commissioner of Excise, Tarep Imchen urged the Parliamentary Secretary to take up the matter of procuring adequate enforcement weapons for the personnel, who are ill-equipped to conduct field operations.
