Assam: Drugs worth Rs 9.5 crore seized, three held

Guwahati, May 7 (IANS) Assam Police seized drugs worth Rs 9.5 crore and arrested three drug peddlers, including a woman, in two separate operations, officials said on Wednesday.

An Assam Police spokesman said that based on credible intelligence regarding the transportation of contraband from Silchar (southern Assam) to Guwahati via the Silchar--Coimbatore Express train, a team from Panbazar Police station was deployed at Guwahati railway station on Wednesday. A female suspect was identified and apprehended upon the train’s arrival, he said.

Following due legal procedures and in the presence of independent witnesses, the search led to the recovery of 20,000 highly addictive methamphetamine tablets, valued at Rs 5 crore, one mobile handset and Rs 1,000 in cash. The accused, identified as Parvina Khatun Bibi (31), has been taken into custody. The detainee is a resident of Sadialer Khuti village in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district.

In another operation, the Assam Police on Tuesday night arrested two drug peddlers at Salchapra in Silchar in the state’s Cachar district, and seized 847 grams of heroin and 4.035 kg of opium from them. The total estimated value of the drugs is Rs 4.5 crore.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma appreciated the police for the seizure of the drugs.

According to the police spokesman, legal actions were undertaken under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act 1985.

Police suspect that the drugs smuggled from Myanmar through Mizoram entered Assam through a clandestine route.

Myanmar, which shares a 1,643 km unfenced border with four northeastern states -- Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, and Mizoram -- serves as a key transit point for drugs, particularly heroin and methamphetamine tablets, entering India. Myanmar’s Chin State is a hub for smuggling of varied drugs, exotic wildlife animals and many other contraband through six Mizoram districts -- Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Hnahthial, Saitual and Serchhip.

--IANS

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