"Drug racket" postmaster among five held in Arunachal Pradesh

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: The anti-narcotics squad of West Kameng district police has claimed to have busted a "drug racket" which has subsequently led to the arrest of five persons including a postmaster and an IRBn constable.

"Based on a tip-off, Bomdila police station officer in-charge, sub-inspector Krishnendu Dev and his team on Friday intercepted a hatchback in which two of the alleged accused persons were travelling in and recovered around 12.5 grams of heroin, a highly addictive drug," West Kameng Superintendent of Police Raja Banthia said on Monday.

The duo – Dibyajyoti Patro and Norbu Monpa– were coming back to Bomdila from Bhalukpong and they had concealed the drug inside the bonnet of the car. The car was seized and the accused persons were arrested in the presence of the executive magistrate," the SP said.

Banthia said the arrested individuals who have been taken into custody, on further investigation revealed that one Kalido Pertin, a postmaster in Bomdila, had financed the purchase with Rs 1.15 lakh in order to procure the drug from Tezpur, Assam.

"The postmaster and one IRBn constable who assisted the peddlers to cross the drugs through Bhalukpong check gate has also been arrested," the SP said while adding that a case under section 21(b)/27/27(A)/29 of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 has been registered.

All the accused were produced before a Special Judge on Saturday and remanded to police custody, he said.

Meanwhile, the police on Saturday also arrested one drug peddler – Mansu Ansari alias Sheru from the 5th mile area of Bomdila and recovered 5 vials of narcotic drugs from his possession.

Ansari has been placed in police custody and interrogation carried on him so far has revealed that his area of operation is Dirang, SP Banthia said.

The West Kameng district police had established an anti-narcotics squad earlier this year to tackle the menace of drugs in the district.

Accordingly an operation titled "Minesweeper" was launched in the month of April by constituting a dedicated and specialized team under the supervision of deputy superintendent of police SN Phaichelupa.

Several arrests have been made by the team so far under the same.

Appreciating the work of the anti-narcotics squad, SP Banthia has at the same time appealed all the community based organizations of the district to come forward and work with the police to eradicate the menace of drugs from the region.

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