Assam Police freeze assets of drug mafia Baba Hazarika

OUR BUREAU

BOKAJAN/GUWAHATI: In a novel step aimed at augmenting the war against drugs, the Assam Police have arranged for freezing the illegally-acquired properties of Karbi Anglong-based drug lord Baba Hazarika.

Assam's Director General of Police, Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said in a tweet that the request for freezing Baba Hazarika's properties was made based on a thorough financial investigation and maybe the first of its kind in the country.

Baba Hazarika was identified as the kingpin of an inter-State drug racket and arrested on January 12. Hazarika is a resident of the Gharialdubi locality under Khatkhati Police Station. At the time of his arrest, the police had seized a huge quantity of drugs from a tipper truck along with wildlife parts from his residence. The wildlife parts included a pair of elephant ankle bones, three deer antlers along with a skull, and a tortoiseshell. The seized drugs comprised 795 gm of fine-quality heroin, worth over Rs 5 crore in the market.

According to police sources, Hazarika operated his illegal trade along the Assam-Nagaland border and controlled a drug smuggling network that covered procurement, transport and distribution at various levels.

According to Bokajan Subdivisional Police Officer (SDPO) John Das, the police moved the Competent Authority (CA) – a statutory tribunal under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976 –for freezing Hazarika's assets. The tribunal thereafter ordered freezing of the properties of Hazarika under Section 68F (2) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

"After the arrest of Hazarika, we found out that Hazarika was operating a large-scale drug trafficking racket and had amassed a huge fortune through drug smuggling. We conducted an in-depth investigation into his movable and immovable properties, along with those of his wife, and identified various assets acquired by Hazarika which were disproportionate to his known source of income," the SDPO added.

The frozen assets include a residential building valued at Rs 1.25 crore, five bank accounts with deposits of Rs 26 lakh, two SUVs valued at Rs 50 lakh, one tipper truck valued at Rs 15 lakh and a plot of land measuring 4 kathas.

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