Myanmar has taken over from Afghanistan as top opium source,says Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). After Taliban's 2022 ban on opium,Myanmar's illegal cultivation soared. Area under poppy jumped 56% from 2021 to 2023,hitting 45,200 hectares.
NCB's 2026 report calls Manipur corridor key entry point for drugs from Myanmar into India . Manipur,Mizoram,Nagaland — all now face growing crisis. Porous borders aid narcotics smuggling. Free Movement Regime (FMR) on India-Myanmar border turns these regions into active distribution centers.
Golden Triangle in Myanmar now major supplier of opiates,methamphetamine. Especially in Shan State,where armed groups control. Report notes Manipur corridor,along Indian National Highway 102,as main land route for heroin,meth tablets.
Another big route enters India via Champhai in Mizoram,bordering Myanmar’s Chin State. Smugglers use unfenced border stretches,send drugs to Silchar in Assam's Barak Valley . 2025 saw Mizoram seize 1,477 kg of amphetamine-type stimulants — country's highest. Manipur next at 535 kg.
Myanmar's drug output climbs,Afghanistan's crashes 93% since Taliban crackdown. Yet,13,200 tonnes of pre-ban narcotics still fuel trafficking into India through west border. NCB notes sharp spike in drone-based drug trafficking from Pakistan,up five-fold in five years,especially in Punjab.
In 2025,Punjab had 298 drone drug smuggling cases,seizing 461 kg of drugs,mainly heroin,meth. NCB shows drone incidents soared from 3 in 2021 to 305 in 2025 — a 100-fold rise .
NCB's report shows traffickers using drones to dodge traditional border checks . More incidents in Rajasthan,Jammu and Kashmir. Report points to growing land,maritime drug routes in South Asia. Punjab and Rajasthan are big land fronts; Gujarat,Maharashtra coasts see more smuggling.
Myanmar's deepening crisis. Drug smuggling in Mizoram growing headache for Indian authorities. Afghanistan–Pakistan–Iran corridor still top opiate trafficking complex,but Southeast Asia's shifting dynamics…
