16 crore heroin seized, 5 drug smugglers arrested
Agartala/Shillong: Police in Tripura and Meghalaya have seized heroin worth Rs 16 crore. Five drug smugglers have also been arrested in this regard. The Tripura Police on Saturday seized 1.3 kg of heroin worth Rs 10 crore after arresting a drug peddler at Damcherra in North Tripura, adjoining Mizoram.
North Tripura district superintendent of police Bhanupada Chakraborty said the drugs, contained in 100 packets, were being transported in a Bolero car, which was coming from neighboring Mizoram. He said drug peddler Khaleel Uddin, a resident of Karimganj in southern Assam, has been arrested under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. The East Khasi Hills district police in Meghalaya arrested four interstate drug peddlers on Saturday. Police seized heroin worth Rs 6 crore from their possession. The drug smugglers were traveling in a Maruti car.
Tripura CM Manik Saha and Meghalaya CM Conrad K. Sangma lauded the police for their success in seizing the drugs. According to the police, the drugs may have been smuggled from Myanmar. With Saturday’s seizure, the security forces have seized heroin worth Rs 22.25 crore in less than two weeks. Let us tell you that on August 21, the Tripura Police seized 1.3 kg of heroin worth Rs 10 crore and arrested three drug peddlers from Dharmanagar in North Tripura.
On August 29, in a joint operation by Tripura Police and Assam Rifles, three youths were arrested from Kumarghat in Unakoti district with 558 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.25 crore. Tripura’s 856 km long border with Bangladesh and Mizoram’s 510 km long unfenced border with Myanmar have become an easy corridor for drug smuggling into Northeast India.
