A northeastern Indian state that has for years been a big transit point for illicit drugs originating in neighboring Myanmar has launched a massive crackdown on the trade, seizing record amounts and arresting nearly 2,000 people since May.
Assam, four of whose neighboring states have open and rugged borders with Myanmar, connects the northeast to the rest of India. It has received praise for the drug clampdown from ruling and opposition politicians but has been criticized for alleged human rights abuses, including the shooting of suspected traffickers.
Assam's ties with one of the states, Mizoram, has frayed too, after Assam linked the drugs fight to a recent territorial clash between the two states in which police forces fired at each other.