Agartala: In a major breakthrough, Tripura police on Thursday recovered a huge quantity of heroin worth of Rs 15.3 Crore in two separate incidents and arrested as many as six people, including three residents of Bihar in Dhalai and West Tripura districts.
Dhalai district police seized 3.415-kilogram heroin worth of Rs 13.8 Crore along with two transporters at Ambassa in Dhalai district, which is one of the biggest narcotic hauls ever in Tripura.
Meanwhile, Agartala city police based on specific input detained an auto-rickshaw from Buddha Mandir area of the city and recovered eight packets of heroin along with four peddlers.
Superintendent of Police (Dhalai) Avinash Rai told media that during vehicle checking on National Highway under Ambassa police station the police officials intercepted a Thar vehicle and recovered heroin in 300 soap cases from the hidden chamber of the vehicle in an improvised cloth bag.
Two people identified as Mahabul Alam (38) and Piklu Bhowmik (38), both residents of the western bordering district Sepahijala were arrested on the charge of carrying the consignment under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act 1985, Mr Rai said.
He added that both the accused were habitual drug smugglers and they were arrested earlier in Ganganagar and Kamalpur police stations with heroin on two different occasions.
Both accused went to Mizoram on June 26 last and they received the consignment of drugs from Thangpong Haokep of Manipur at Champai-Mizoram-Manipur and Burma border and started their journey towards Tripura on June 28 evening and used the road through Mamit district of Mizoram and moved towards Agartala via Kanchanpur.
They were provided with a mobile phone and advised to supply the consignment at Indo-Bangladesh border of Sonamura after getting a call from the receiver, the accused duo told police.
“They didn’t reveal anything more so far but interrogation is going on. Apparently, it seems they are mere transporter of drugs and narcotics. Both of them are involved in petty business in the bordering locations of Sepahijala and in February this year police arrested them with another drug consignment but they got released on bail from the court,” Rai said.
Superintendent of Police (West) Dr K Kiran Kumar informed that police recovered heroin of Rs 1.5 crore from the possession of Raj Kumar, Choto Kumar, and Dharmendra Kumar of Bihar and one Ramananda Roy of Khejurbagan area of the city and added, “The source and destination of the consignment have not yet been ascertained.”
Police produced them in local courts in the respective areas seeking remand for further investigation.
