Imphal: One of the five arrested along with a Colonel-rank Defence PRO in Manipur for allegedly carrying illicit drugs valued at an estimated Rs 24 crore is related to a senior state government official while another is a kin of an MLA, police sources claimed today.
A medical check on the six, who were arrested in Manipur’s Chandel district yesterday, was being done at Kakching police station, the sources said.
Colonel Ajay Chaudhury was arrested along with his assistant R K Babalu, IndiGo assistant manager Ngairangbam Brojendro Singh, Haopu Haokip, Minthang Bongel and Milan Haokip.
Among the last three, one is related to a senior state government official and another to a former minister who is now an MLA, but the police refused to identify them.
On Sunday, Chaudhury had claimed that he was unaware that the consignment contained illicit drugs and that he was allegedly cheated by the nephew of a very senior officer into accompanying him, but had not identified to whom he was referring to among those arrested.
“Since, he is a friend and he is a relative of someone senior, you will never suspect him of doing anything like this…. Somehow I have been cheated in this,” he had said. (PTI)