3 peddlers held in city; heroin worth Rs 9.8 lakh seized

SHILLONG: Three drug peddlers were arrested in the city and contraband worth over Rs 9 lakh was seized in separate raids on Monday evening.
Police along with the Anti Narcotic Task Force (ANTF) raided two houses in Madanrting’s Block D and Block F and found 98 gm of high-grade heroin, SP City Steve Rynjah told reporters on Tuesday.
The first house to be raided belonged to Rebecca Hmar and her husband Vanlal Mawia Hmar. The police team initially detected 23.42 gm of heroin and later 12.89 gm more. Police also recovered Rs 34,760 in cash.
Another raid followed at the residence of one Lalpeng Rawli in Block D from where 61.6 gm of high-grade heroin was recovered, besides Rs 1.41 lakh. “The money may be proceeds of the heroin sold in the market,” the police said.
Rynjah said peddlers usually keep heroin in soap cases and each case is sold at Rs 35,000 in Shillong. Altogether eight such cases worth Rs 2.5 lakh were seized.
The SP said 98 gm of heroin was seized whose international market value is Rs 9.8 lakh.
A case has been registered against the trio under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) Act.
According to Rynjah, with the three arrests, police could penetrate into one layer of the cartel and there are many more layers which they have to find out.
The contraband items were smuggled to Shillong from other neighbouring states and probably from Myanmar, the police informed.
“The district police this year have seized 1.5 kg of heroin and 20,000 tablets of methamphetamine (a stimulant used as a recreational drug). Police have also registered as many as 49 cases under NDPS this year,” Rynjah said.