Drug laws permit pre-trial disposal of seized contraband; it is an exceptional provision to prevent malpractices. Law enforcement agencies strive to destroy dangerous drugs periodically, with the least environmental damage. Sophisticated facilities for safe destruction, however, are not available everywhere. Such facilities were not available in Manipur 15 years ago, when, as the chief of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), I was confronted with the problem of destroying about five truckloads of ganja and substantial quantities of charas. Reluctantly, I decided that the cannabis would be destroyed by burning it in the open, on a deserted hillside about 30 km from Imphal.
I supervised the operation myself. Officials of the bureau transported the ganja and charas early in the morning, along with firewood, wastepaper and old tyres to facilitate burning. The cannabis was arranged in three heaps, doused with diesel and set on fire.
That is when we ran into the first snag. The ground was damp, and the moisture content of the cannabis was high. The ganja refused to catch fire. We soon had three smouldering mounds, sending spirals of smoke to the heavens. Even through my mask, I could smell the acrid smoke. With great difficulty, the local officer and others managed to get the drugs to burn evenly, but then it started to rain!
The drizzle almost killed the tentative flames. That is when we hit the third snag. Curious villagers came from near and far and stayed to inhale the smoke. Word spread to other areas, and soon more than a thousand men and women collected around the burning heaps. The handful of NCB officials had a difficult time trying to keep the reluctant biomass burning, shooing away the villagers to prevent them from inhaling the smoke and chasing away some intrepid ones who tried to surreptitiously take away fistfuls of half-burnt ganja.
In the afternoon, the hillside resembled a bizarre battlefield. Some 50-odd villagers lolled around the burning drugs in a stupor. By nightfall, they stumbled home and only the masked NCB personnel remained. It was almost midnight when we returned to Imphal after the cannabis turned to ash.
I reviewed the fiasco in the NCB office the next morning and remarked that we were fortunate that no one from the media had reported the ignominious happenings. The local officer corrected me, ‘Sir, a reporter had indeed come and declared that he would write a story about the botched destruction of drugs. But you can rest easy. I let him take away about 5 kg of ganja from the burning stacks. I know he won’t be writing that story!’
(Published in ‘The Tribune’ on January 12, 2023)