Narco-trafficking is very closely associated with insurgency in Northeast India. Porous borders, proximity to the Golden Triangle, constant ethnic conflict, unemployment, poverty and transit to international market, are the main factors underlying Narco-trafficking in this part of India. According to a local NGO report, mental stress and strain, growing unemployment and frustrations and instability in society has led the youth to consume narcotics. The report further said that consumption of drugs and cases of HIV positive has been growing in Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland. About 10 percent of drug users are suffering from AIDS. Within a span of two decades, the number of drug users and HIV positive cases has increased to 110,000 and 6,871 respectively in the Northeast states.

Smuggling of heroin from the Golden Triangle to northeast India through porous borders of Mizoram and Manipur started in the late seventies and early eighties. According to an official report, Moreh, the gateway to India in the Southeast Asian countries, New Somdal in Ukhrul district of Manipur, Behiang  in Churachandpur district of Manipur, Bokan in Myanmar bordering Molcham village in Chandel district of Manipur, and Champai in Mizoram bordering Myanmar have become the places of entry for the heroin smugglers.

Drug trafficking is reportedly the main source of funding for the terrorist outfits of the region. The involvement of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in this business has further complicated the matter. To evade the tough vigil on the western border, the terrorists enter the country via Nepal and Bangladesh to supply men and material to the Kashmiri terrorists. According to the Central Reserve Police Force Chief, SC Chaube, “The North-Eastern corridor of India is vulnerable to various machinations of the ISI. Since it has been finding it difficult to operate through our western border because of border fencing and patrolling, it has now shifted its focus to the North-Eastern border.â€Â