Drugs valued at Rs 6 cr smuggled from Manipur seized in Assam, two held

  The Special Task Force (STF) in Assam on Sunday seized drugs worth Rs 6 crore which were smuggled from Manipur and arrested two persons including a drug peddler

IANS | New Delhi | October 21, 2024 : The Special Task Force (STF) in Assam on Sunday seized drugs worth Rs 6 crore which were smuggled from Manipur and arrested two persons including a drug peddler, an official said.

Officials said that acting on secret information, the STF sleuth seized heroin weighing 637 grams valued at Rs 6 crore at Amingaon near Guwahati and arrested Murtaza Ahmed alias Bhulu (31).

The STF personnel after an interrogation learnt that Bhulu, who was travelling in a Tata Nexon car, was supposed to deliver the drugs to Baihata and Rangia areas.

Later, the courier/driver of the truck Prasant Toppo (27), a resident of Karbi Anglong, who had transported the narcotics from Manipur, was also apprehended from a parking lot in Changsari.

Both the Tata Nexon and the Truck were seized. Necessary legal proceedings are being initiated.

Officials suspect that the heroin was smuggled from Myanmar as Manipur shares around 400 km of unfenced border with the neighbouring country.

Sunday’s drug seizure two days after Assam Police seized 691 gm of heroin worth over Rs 6 crore, and two drug peddlers identified as Sandeep Singh and Manoj Deka were arrested in Guwahati city on Saturday.

Acting on information, police personnel conducted an operation near Chandmari flyover and apprehended the two drug peddlers travelling on a bike.

The heroin, weighing 691 gm hidden in ten soap boxes, was recovered from the duo after a thorough search.

Police officials said that the drug might have been smuggled from Myanmar through Manipur.

Varied drugs, especially heroin and methamphetamine tablets, are smuggled into northeastern states of India from Myanmar, which shares a 1,643-km unfenced border with four northeastern states – Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), Manipur (398 km), Nagaland (215 km) and Mizoram (510 km).