Heroin worth Rs 22.42 cr seized in NE, 7 peddlers held

way2barak, Sep 2 : The Assam Rifles and police in Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram have seized heroin worth Rs 22.42 crore and arrested seven drug peddlers including a Myanmar national in this regard.

In another major drug haul in less than two weeks, Tripura police on Saturday seized 1.3 kg heroin valued at Rs 10 crore after arresting a drug peddler at Damchera in northern Tripura, adjoining Mizoram.

North Tripura district Superintendent of Police Bhanupada Chakraborty said the drugs contained in 100 packets were being carried in a Bolero car, which was coming from neighbouring Mizoram.

He said the drug peddler, Khalil Uddin, who hails from southern Assam’s Karimganj, has been arrested under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

In Meghalaya, the East Khasi Hills district police on Saturday arrested four inter-state drug traffickers and seized heroin worth Rs 6 crore from their possession. The drug peddlers were travelling in a Maruti car.

In Mizoram, the Assam Rifles, which guarding the India-Myanmar Border, has arrested a 34-years-old Myanmar national Thangmaglian and recovered 852.16 gram heroin valued at around Rs 6 crore from him in Champhai district.

From the same district, bordering Myanmar, the Assam Rifles in separate operation seized 60.2 gram heroin, worth Rs 42.14 lakh and arrested the drug peddler Lalrinmuana (32).

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad K. Sangma have appreciated the police for their success in seizing the drugs, which according to the police might have been smuggled in from Myanmar.

With Saturday’s seizure, the security forces in Tripura have seized heroin valued at Rs 22.25 crore in less than two weeks.

On August 21, Tripura police had seized 1.3 kg heroin valued at Rs 10 crore and arrested three drug peddlers from Dharmanagar in northern Tripura.

On August 29, Tripura police and the Assam Rifles in a joint operation had apprehended three youths with 558 gm heroin valued at Rs 2.25 crore from Kumarghat in Unakoti district.

Tripura’s 856 km border with Bangladesh and Mizoram’s 510 km unfenced frontier with Myanmar have become an easy corridor for drugs smuggling in northeast India.