Guwahati: In the biggest drug haul In Assam, state police on Tuesday arrested four alleged drug traffickers and seized narcotic drugs and a contraband item valued at over Rs 100 crore in the international market in Assam’s Karimganj district.
Acting on a tip-off, sleuths of the Special Task Force (STF) of Assam police, led by Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Partha Sarathi Mahanta, in coordination with the Karimganj police, led by the district’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Partha Protim Das, carried out a joint operation at the Suprakandi area under the jurisdiction of the Nilam Bazar police station.
The police intercepted a hatchback car, bearing Mizoram registration number MZ06-A-1422, at around 2.15 pm, Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of the Assam police stated in a press release.
During a thorough search of the vehicle, the joint team of police recovered a total of 5.1 kilograms of heroin, as many as 64,000 Yaba tablets, an addictive stimulant, and four packets of cigarettes of foreign origin, concealed in secret chambers of the car.
The police immediately arrested the four occupants of the car and seized the consignment of narcotic drugs and the contraband items along with the car, the release stated.
The four arrested individuals have been identified as Nur Ahmed, the driver of the vehicle, a resident of Patharkandi town in Karimganj district, Zosangliani, Ramngheaka, and Lalchamliana, all hailing from Mizoram’s Thenzawl town in the state’s Serchhip district, it added.
According to the police, this is one of the highest seizures of drugs in Eastern India in terms of market value, as prices of narcotic substances have gone up due to continuous and effective operations and aggressive actions by the Assam police.
Speaking to the media after the seizure of the consignment of drugs, DIG, STF, Mahanta said, “Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma after assuming office in 2021 instructed all units of the Assam police to go all out against smuggling of drugs across the state and accordingly we have been carrying out intensive operations against drugs trafficking. We had prior information that a huge consignment of drugs is likely to be smuggled through Assam and we had been tracking it for the past two months. Due to our continuous and intensified operations, the international and inter-state drug trafficking racket was unable to transport the consignment of drugs.”
The DIG said that after two months, the racket finally tried to transport the consignment of drugs today and as per the information received earlier, the Assam police acted swiftly and foiled the smuggling bid.
“Due to shortage of supply of drugs due to our intensified operations, prices of drugs have shot abruptly. In the metros and bigger cities of India, where purchasing capacities of the drug users are higher, one Yaba tablet is even sold at a whopping price of Rs 5,000. So the drug traffickers have been trying to sneak the narcotic drugs through the northeastern states to the metros where they get good value,” DIG Mahanta added.
DIG Mahanta further said that the international drug trafficking rackets use the northeastern states of Assam, Mizoram, and Manipur as a corridor to transport drugs to other parts of the country. This particular consignment of drugs was also meant to be transported to mainland India but the Assam police foiled it and will continue to foil such attempts in the future.