Heroin worth Rs 20 lakh seized in Arunachal

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: In a major crackdown on narcotics smuggling, the Arunachal Pradesh Police, in coordination with Assam Police and the CRPF, seized nearly 500 grams of heroin worth approximately Rs 20 lakh, and arrested three individuals during a two-phase operation along the Arunachal-Assam border. The operation was launched following a tip-off about drugs being transported from Assam into Arunachal Pradesh, Naharlagun Superintendent of Police (SP) Nyelam Nega informed on Wednesday.

In the first phase, a team led by sub-inspector Koj Tada, assisted by assistant sub inspector S K Jha and personnel from Banderdewa Police Station and the CRPF’s B/138 Battalion, intercepted a vehicle at the Banderdewa check gate.

During the search conducted in the presence of Inspector Kipa Hamak and independent witnesses, 30 vials of heroin concealed in a green plastic bag under the car’s bonnet were recovered. The contraband weighed 39.92 grams, including the vials, the SP said.

The driver, identified as Tania Tatar (30) of Pachin Colony in Naharlagun, near here, was arrested on the spot. Upon interrogation, he revealed that the drugs were sourced from Jiten Biswas, a known drug peddler at Harmuti, in Assam’s Lakhimpur district. Based on this input, police launched a follow-up raid on Tuesday at Biswas’s residence in Parbotipur, Harmuti. The raid, led by SI Tada and supervised by Naharlagun SDPO Rishi Longdo, was carried out with support from the Assam Police and in the presence of indepndent witnesses.

The search yielded seven soap cases and 270 vials suspected to contain heroin, weighing 456.17 grams. Additionally, 332 empty vials and 10 tablets of Nitrazepam IP 10mg were seized. With this, the total seizure across both phases amounted to 496.09 grams.

Two more individuals, Jiten Biswas (35) and his associate Pushe Chetry (34), both residents of Parbotipur in Assam’s Lakhimpur district, were arrested during the raid.

All three accused have been booked under Section 21(b) of the NDPS Act and are currently in custody. Further investigation and legal proceedings are in progress, Nega said.

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