Agartala/Aizawl, March 22: The security forces have arrested five drug peddlers and recovered drugs from their possession valued at Rs 5.75 crore, an official said on Saturday, adding that seizures were made in Tripura and Mizoram.
An official in Agartala said that three drug peddlers were arrested in the Tripura capital on late Friday night and highly addictive 1.10 lakh methamphetamine tablets, also known as Yaba tablets or ‘crazy drug’ valued at Rs 5.50 crore were seized from their possession.
The drugs, intended to be smuggled to neighbouring Bangladesh, were recovered from a trolley bag which was in possession of the three persons, a police official said. The arrested drug peddlers have been identified as Sahidul Hussain Talukdar, a resident of Silchar in southern Assam, and two Tripura-based traffickers, Nayanmani Namasudra from Kachucherra and Biswajit Biswas from Salema in Dhalai district.
A case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act has been registered against them. The official said that they would seek their remand from the court for further interrogation to uncover the full extent of the drug network and its possible links across state borders.
In Mizoram, Assam Rifles, in coordination with the Excise and Narcotics Department officials, apprehended two drugs peddlers and recovered 34.94 grams of heroin valued at Rs 25 lakh in Mizoram’s Lunglei town on Friday night.
The apprehended drug traffickers are moving with the drugs in a Yamaha MT-15 motorcycle, which was being used for transporting the contraband. The two-wheeler was also seized.
The seized drugs, along with the apprehended individuals, were handed over to the Excise and Narcotics Department for further investigation and legal proceedings. Meanwhile, Assam Rifles and Customs officials, in a joint operation, have seized a consignment of areca nuts, also known as Burmese betel nuts, valued at Rs 1.08 crore in Mizoram.
A defence spokesman said that, acting on specific intelligence inputs, a large quantity of areca nuts, contained in 180 bags, was seized at Zote in the Champhai district on Friday. Valued at Rs 1.08 crore, the areca nuts were smuggled into the state from Myanmar and dumped in a jungle for hiding.
The contraband has been handed over to the Customs Preventive Force in Champhai. The bordering Champhai district, which shares an unfenced border with Myanmar, is a hotspot for the smuggling of various drugs, foreign cigarettes, areca nuts, arms and ammunition, and exotic animals and their parts.
IANS