Meghalaya nabs 186 drug peddlers: Dy CM Tynsong details state's crackdown efforts

A total of 186 drug peddlers have been arrested across Meghalaya during the previous year and into the current one, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong told the state assembly on February 17.

Tynsong, who holds the Home (Police) portfolio, made the disclosure in response to a starred question jointly raised by Synshar Kupar Roy Lyngdoh Thabah and Mehtab Chandee A. Sangma. The legislators had asked both for the arrest total and for a full account of what the government is doing to counter what they described as the drug menace affecting the state.

On the question of specific measures, Tynsong said the details had been placed as a statement on the table of the House — a standard parliamentary device that allows more extensive information to enter the official record without being read aloud in the chamber.

The session offered no breakdown of the 186 arrests by district, by substance type, or by whether those arrested were from within Meghalaya or from other states.

Drug trafficking has been a persistent concern in the region, with Meghalaya serving both as a transit route and a consumption market, and enforcement complicated by the state's porous borders with Assam and its proximity to trafficking corridors further east.

The government has not publicly detailed the outcomes of previous arrests — including conviction rates or the volume of narcotics seized — making it difficult to assess whether the enforcement effort is translating into a meaningful reduction in supply.