children-used-in-shillong-drug-network-admits-meghalaya-govt

Children are being pulled into Shillong’s deepening drug economy, the Meghalaya government has confirmed, raising concern over how the narcotics trade is tightening its grip on vulnerable neighbourhoods of the state capital.

 

Paul Lyngdoh, adviser to the Social Welfare Department, said the administration had received “serious reports” of minors being used to sell drugs in Mawlai, one of Shillong’s most affected pockets. Lyngdoh spoke to reporters after a meeting with senior officers of the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) on Thursday.

 

“The government has received serious reports of minors being involved in drug selling in Mawlai,” he said. Lyngdoh added that tackling the menace would require stronger cooperation between Meghalaya Police, ANTF units and local communities.

 

The confirmation comes at a time when Meghalaya has seen a sharp escalation in drug seizures, trafficking networks and arrests over the past three years. The state’s expanding narcotics supply chain, fuelled by inflows from neighbouring Assam and routes linked to the ‘Golden Triangle’, has increasingly turned urban centres such as Shillong and East Jaintia Hills into high-risk zones.

 

Also read: Mizoram clamps down on drug, areca nut smuggling network 

 

Lyngdoh said fresh intelligence inputs had pointed to new groups “pushing drugs in different pockets of the city”, suggesting shifting patterns in distribution as enforcement pressure increases.

 

He also flagged the acute shortage of Village Defence Parties (VDPs) in Shillong. “Despite having a population of around six lakh, the city has only 12 VDPs,” he said, noting that community vigilance mechanisms remain far too weak for a city battling an expanding street-level drug trade.

 

Officials said Mawlai, long identified as one of Shillong’s vulnerable areas, has seen wider spillover of narcotics activity into adjoining localities. Lyngdoh acknowledged that while Mawlai remained a key hotspot, “the problem has spread across all districts,” and that Shillong and East Jaintia Hills are “currently the most affected regions”.

 

The government is expected to scale up coordination between anti-narcotics units, district police and community-based organisations, with a renewed focus on preventing recruitment of minors and restoring security at the neighbourhood level.