Kohima: Nagaland, Manipur, and Mizoram sit on the front lines of an escalating narcotics crisis. The Narcotics Control Bureau Annual Report 2025 identifies these states as high-risk zones, warning that porous borders and historical movement regimes have turned the region into an active staging ground for traffickers.
Myanmar now leads the world in illicit opium production, with cultivation jumping 56 percent since 2021. Political chaos and economic collapse across the border fuel this growth. The NCB highlights that the eastern gateway is an immediate priority, specifically regarding the flow of methamphetamine and heroin from the Golden Triangle.
The report notes that states "bearing the sharpest frontline exposure" now deal with more than just transit issues. Security agencies fear that drug profits finance armed groups while synthetic stimulants flood local markets. Nationally, seizures of Amphetamine-Type Stimulants soared 140 percent between 2020 and 2025.
Data for Nagaland remains contradictory. While state agencies reported over 100,000 units of synthetic drugs seized in 2025, the NCB report listed zero kilograms of ATS seizures for the state. However, the state recorded high volumes of pharmaceutical preparations. Police registered 158 cases under the NDPS Act, leading to 255 arrests during the year. These numbers put Nagaland behind Assam and Mizoram in enforcement, but ahead of states like Meghalaya.
Officials emphasize that limited treatment options and cheap synthetic drugs worsen the spillover into local communities. Traffickers increasingly exploit uninhabited islands and deep-sea routes to bypass traditional surveillance. The crackdown on the Indo-Myanmar corridor continues, though the scale of the threat remains a major concern for border security.
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