Heroin worth Rs 10 crore seized in Tripura, three arrested

Agartala (IANS). In one of the biggest ever drug seizures in the state, the Tripura Police on Monday seized 1.3 kg of heroin worth Rs 10 crore and arrested three drug peddlers in this connection.

North Tripura district superintendent of police Bhanupada Chakraborty said the narcotics, contained in several soap boxes, were being transported in a Tata Sumo vehicle, which was coming from southern Assam.

Chakraborty told IANS, “Acting on a tip-off, we set up a checkpoint at Churaibari in North Tripura district and intercepted the vehicle. Three drug smugglers were traveling in the vehicle with the drugs.”

The arrested drug peddlers – Abdul Ali (28), Suman Krishna Das (21) and Prasenjit Das (23) will be produced in the court on Tuesday.

The police are now interrogating the people taken into custody.

Another police official said the drugs were smuggled from Myanmar and brought to Tripura through Mizoram and southern Assam with the intention of smuggling them into Bangladesh.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha lauded the police for the success in the drug bust.

“As part of the ongoing special drive against drugs, Tripura Police achieved major success with the seizure of about 1.3 kg of heroin (worth Rs 10 crore) from Churaibari in North Tripura district today,” Saha tweeted.

Three people have been arrested in this connection. We are determined to make Tripura drug free and the state police is playing a commendable role in achieving this goal.

Tripura’s 856-km border with Bangladesh and Mizoram’s 510-km border with Myanmar make it an easy corridor for drug smuggling into northeast India.