Guwahati | Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday flagged the emergence of a new drug trafficking route from Myanmar through Arunachal Pradesh’s Changlang district to Tinsukia in Assam, warning that the development could pose a serious challenge to Upper Assam.

Speaking to reporters, Sarma said law enforcement agencies had intensified their crackdown on narcotics across the state and made several significant seizures in recent weeks.

He cited a major seizure in Guwahati involving drugs worth nearly Rs 80 crore, which he said were allegedly being prepared for transportation to Punjab. “We are continuously seizing drugs. But this is a very big milestone,” Sarma said, referring to the recent seizures.

The Chief Minister said the scale of the seizures indicated the volume of narcotics that could potentially enter the wider network if trafficking routes were not effectively disrupted. According to Sarma, authorities have traditionally encountered drug trafficking through the Mizoram-Myanmar and Manipur-Myanmar routes. However, a new route appears to have emerged along the Myanmar-Arunachal border.

“Earlier, drugs used to come through the Mizoram-Myanmar and Manipur-Myanmar routes. Drugs were not coming through the Arunachal-Myanmar border. However, in the last few days, we have seized drugs in Tinsukia,” he said. Sarma said questioning of arrested drug peddlers had provided information suggesting that the narcotics seized in Tinsukia may have entered Assam through Changlang in Arunachal Pradesh.

Describing the development as a “very worrying signal” for Upper Assam, the Chief Minister stressed the need for sustained surveillance and enforcement along the emerging route. The latest disclosure comes amid Assam’s intensified anti-narcotics campaign, with the state government repeatedly highlighting large-scale drug seizures and efforts to dismantle trafficking networks.

Officials are now expected to strengthen surveillance along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border and in vulnerable areas of Tinsukia and other parts of Upper Assam to prevent the emerging route from developing into an established narcotics corridor.