On October 23, a joint team of police and Special Task Force (STF) intercepted an SUV near the Lakshmipur check-post in Raxaul area of Bihar’s East Champaran and recovered 1.8 kg of suspected smack, valued by the police at around Rs 4 crore.Two men were arrested. Five days earlier, a joint operation by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Bihar STF had led to the seizure of approximately 3 kg of charas at Muzaffarpur railway station, with an estimated value of Rs 3 crore and two alleged smugglers arrested.On October 10, another joint operation recovered 5.14 kg of charas near the India-Nepal border, with an estimated value of Rs 5.14 crore.

Investigators have been examining the networks behind these consignments and their intended destinations.Taken together, the recoveries provide a timely snapshot of the challenge facing Bihar’s enforcement agencies. They involve different substances, different modes of transport and different points along the supply chain.

They also underline how the state’s proximity to Nepal and its position on routes linking eastern and northeastern India to other markets can complicate the task of policing narcotics. The October cases are only the visible edge of a much larger enforcement effort.

According to an official Bihar STF note, between January 1 and August 16 this year, the force seized 3,059.6 kg of ganja, 518.5 kg of doda or poppy straw, 20.04 kg of opium, 17.9 kg of charas, 6.03 kg of heroin and 3.6 kg of smack, besides another 225 packets of smack. The note also lists 768 gm of a substance identified as “kota” and 216 units recorded as “rabba”.

The STF’s narcotics cell accounted for more than 2,188 kg of drugs and 163 arrests during that period.The cell’s more recent operational figures point to continued activity. By October 10, it had recorded drug seizures valued at Rs 52.32 crore and 315 arrests since its formation in April 2025; seizures worth Rs 25.58 crore had been recorded in 2026 alone.

Together, the records show the scale of resources being directed towards narcotics enforcement.The concern extends beyond specialised-unit seizures. Bihar Police Headquarters data shows that 1,905 cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act were registered between January and May 2026.

That was already more than the 1,822 cases recorded during the whole of 2022 and nearly three times the 697 registered in 2019. Ganja seizures across the state rose from approximately 16.69 tonnes in 2022 to 31.92 tonnes in 2025.These figures do not, by themselves, establish how much drug consumption has risen.

An increase in cases and seizures can reflect a larger illicit market, more effective policing or both. But the numbers point to a persistent enforcement challenge for a state that has made alcohol prohibition a defining feature of governance since April 2016.The link between prohibition and narcotics needs to be examined carefully.

It is tempting to argue that restrictions on one intoxicant have pushed consumers towards others. The seizure data cannot establish that causal relationship.

Alcohol and narcotics have different markets, supply chains and patterns of use; an increase in drug seizures is not proof that former drinkers have switched to drugs. What the figures do establish is that Bihar’s prohibition regime has not prevented the movement of other intoxicating substances into and through the state.Geography is central to the problem.

Bihar shares an open international border with Nepal and lies along road and rail corridors connecting eastern and northeastern India, with markets elsewhere. The routes are used by legitimate commerce as well as illicit consignments, making intelligence-led checks and inter-agency coordination essential.

The recent charas recoveries illustrate the complexity: one consignment was intercepted at a railway station while another was recovered from a house near the border. In both cases, investigators were tracing the alleged supply chain and the intended destination beyond the immediate point of seizure.The range of substances involved also matters.

Cannabis and doda account for much of the STF’s seized weight while smaller consignments of heroin and smack can carry high estimated street values. Seizures alone do not establish the total volume moving through the state because enforcement agencies cannot record consignments they do not detect.The challenge is not confined to plant-based drugs or substances trafficked across the international border.

In July, the Central Bureau of Narcotics carried out an extensive operation against an inter-state counterfeit-drug network operating in Gaya and Masaurhi near Patna. The operation uncovered eight illegal medicine warehouses and an illicit manufacturing facility.

Among the recoveries were 68,200 tramadol tablets, 59,000 other tablets and 52,542 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup. Investigators also recovered 21,373 buprenorphine injection ampoules in the wider operation while machinery and equipment at the illicit manufacturing unit were seized.The case points to another strand of the narcotics problem: the illegal manufacture, storage or diversion of pharmaceutical substances.

These operations require a different enforcement approach from intercepting a vehicle carrying ganja or charas. Investigators must examine drug licensing, manufacturing equipment, supply documentation, distribution channels and the financial arrangements that allow illicit stock to reach the market.

The presence of large pharmaceutical consignments also makes it important to distinguish between legally manufactured medicines, illegally diverted products and counterfeit or illicitly manufactured drugs.The STF’s narcotics cell says it uses technical analysis, human intelligence and surveillance to identify trafficking networks, particularly those linked to northeastern states. Joint operations with agencies such as the DRI have produced seizures along the Nepal border and at transport hubs.

The key question is whether these operations can move beyond catching couriers and intercepting individual consignments to identifying suppliers, financiers, storage points and repeat offenders.A seizure removes drugs from circulation, but it does not automatically dismantle the network that supplied them. If the people financing a consignment remain untouched, a disrupted route may be replaced by another.

Effective investigations therefore need to follow money, communications and supply relationships while establishing links through evidence rather than assuming that every drug case belongs to a single organised-crime network.The demand side requires equal attention. Policing can disrupt supply, but it cannot by itself prevent dependence, identify early drug use among young people or provide treatment to those already affected.

Bihar needs reliable, comparable data on consumption, treatment demand and the substances most frequently encountered by health services. It also needs accessible treatment and rehabilitation, informed prevention programmes and support for families.

Without this public-health response, rising seizure figures and arrests may coexist with unmet needs among people struggling with dependence.For a state that has made alcohol prohibition a defining policy for a decade, the narcotics numbers pose a difficult question. The issue is not whether prohibition alone caused the drug trade; the available figures do not establish that.

It is whether the state’s enforcement machinery and public-health services are equipped to respond to several distinct markets: cannabis and poppy-derived substances, high-value consignments of heroin or smack, and pharmaceutical drugs that may be diverted or manufactured illegally.The recent seizures near Raxaul and Muzaffarpur show that enforcement teams are intercepting significant consignments. The STF’s cumulative figures and the operation against illegal pharmaceutical warehouses demonstrate that the response extends beyond roadside checks.

But the measure of success must be more than the value or weight of drugs recovered. It must include the dismantling of supply networks, the prevention of repeat trafficking, better intelligence on changing routes, and evidence about whether drugs are becoming harder to obtain.Bihar’s dry-state status has not made it a drug-free state.

The recoveries document the enforcement response; the continuing need for joint operations, intelligence gathering and investigations into supply chains explains why the response remains necessary. The next test is whether those operations can make lasting inroads into the market—and whether the state can match its policing effort with a credible response to drug dependence.Subscribe to India Today Magazine- Ends