Opium trade busted in zira

 FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT

SIVASAGAR, Feb 22: The dhabas and liquor shops which have sprouted like mushrooms day-by-day have allegedly given a fillip to illegal opium trade. A slew of stringent measures have failed to prevent the illegal opium trade from proliferating in some pockets of upper Assam.

A section of people are still running this trade with a strong network, forcing the authorities to step in. In a sudden drive, the zira subdivision administration busted an opium trading network. Acting on a specific tip-off, zira SDO (Civil) Dr Sadnek Singh, accompanied by SDPO Vengkatesh Dhotre, conducted a raid in the Ward No 6 recently where two youths were held as they were consuming opium and during interrogation they revealed the network while the supplier maged to escape from the spot.