The Meghalaya Police on Tuesday said it arrested nine people for smuggling drugs worth over Rs 15 crore in the international market on Monday in the state's East Jaintia Hills district. Two of the smugglers, who were from Tuanbiaklian Guite and Imliakum Longkume in Nagaland, were arrested with 2.7 kg of heroin in their possession, said district Superintendent of Police Jagpal Dhanoa, reported by news agency PTI. Seven other smugglers were arrested by the police at Khliehriat, who came from Tripura in two vehicles.
The police recovered over 251 kg of marijuana from all these seven, said SP. Dhanoa further said they found 200 soap cases, containing yellowish-orange powder, hidden in the vehicle of two smugglers from Nagaland.
After the arrests, the district police acted on a tip-off and tightened the security and vigil on vehicles entering the state. Moreover, they seized two more vehicles coming from Tripura with 251 kg of marijuana worth over Rs 10 lakh.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma commented on the seizure of the banned drugs. In a Tweet, he said, “Narco traffickers try to ruin youth, but the alert police foiled their evil designs, and nabbed two accused and seized 2.74 kg heroin worth Rs 15 crore in a well-synchronized operation at Nongspung.”
The Superintendent of Police Jagpal Dhanoa said all the arrested persons from Tripura included Joyel Das, Mohan Mazumdar, Gaurav Gupta, Karnajit Sarkar, Sujit Sarkar, Sanjit Sarkar, and Haridas Sarkar.
So far, cases have been registered at the Khliehriat police station in the district and investigations in both cases are being conducted to find the forward and backward linkages, said the SP said.
Meanwhile, in a separate case of smuggling, Delhi customs officers of Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport destroyed 1,289 liquor bottles and 51.68 kg of drugs on Monday, said an official statement.
The officers destroyed 1,289 units of liquor bottles of different brands pertaining to lost property and detained goods at Terminal-3, which were recovered between April 2020 and December 2022.
The customs officers of IGI airport in New Delhi destructed a total of 51.68 kgs of drugs (41.97 kgs of Heroine and 9.71 kgs of cocaine) on Monday by way of incineration, reported PTI.