Drugs worth Rs 10 cr seized in Tripura, 3 held

In one of the largest ever drug seizures in the state, Tripura police on Monday seized 1.3 kg heroin valued at Rs 10 crore and arrested three drug peddlers in this regard, police said.

North Tripura district Superintendent of Police Bhanupada Chakraborty said that the drugs contained in many soap cases were carried in a TATA Sumo vehicle, which was coming from southern Assam.

“Acting on secret information, we laid a checkpoint at Churaibari in north Tripura district and intercepted the vehicle. The three drug peddlers along with the drugs were travelling in the vehicle,” Chakraborty told IANS.

The arrested drug peddlers -- Abdul Ali (28), Suman Krishna Das (21) and Prasenjit Das (23) – would be produced in a court on Tuesday. Police are now interrogating the detainees.

Another police official said that the drugs were smuggled from Myanmar and through Mizoram and southern Assam, these brought to Tripura intending to smuggle to Bangladesh.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha appreciated the police for their success in capturing the drugs.

Saha tweeted : “As part of the ongoing special drive against drugs, Tripura police achieved huge success with the seizure of approx. 1.3 kg heroin (worth Rs 10 crore) from Churaibari in North Tripura district today. Three persons have been arrested in this connection. We are committed to building drugs-free Tripura & the state police has been playing a laudable role to achieve the goal.”

Tripura’s 856 km border with Bangladesh and Mizoram’s 510 km frontier with Myanmar becomes an easy corridor of drug smuggling in northeast India.