Drugs valued at Rs 25 cr seized in Assam, one held

Guwahati/Imphal, September 28 (IANS): A huge quantity of drugs, valued at Rs 25 crore, was seized in central Assam's Karbi Anglong district on Sunday night and one person arrested, police said on Monday.

Assam's Director General of Police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said in a tweet: "The market value of the 5.05 KG of heroin recovered is said to be Rs 25 Crores ! One Ismail Ali, S/o Akabor Ali under Jogighopa PS has been taken into custody. This operation is part of an ongoing drive against drugs declared by DGP Assam on 26 Jun'20."

In another tweet, the police chief said: "The war on drugs is on and the Assam Police just delivered the biggest blow yet to the drug mafias! The Karbi Anglong police last night (Sunday night) seized a whopping 5 KGs of quality Heroin at Assam-Nagaland border. Kudos to the team!"

Meanwhile, the Assam police on Friday night intercepted a Guwahati-bound truck coming from Manipur at a checkpost on the Dimapur-Manja road and recovered drugs including brown sugar, heroin and Yaba (Methamphetamine) tablets valued at Rs 5 crore from the vehicle in the same Karbi Anglong district and arrested three people.

The drugs, which were in 143 packets, are suspected to have been smuggled from Myanmar through Manipur, which shares around 400 km of unfenced border with the neighbouring country.

On Saturday, Assam Rifles had intercepted 670 grams of heroin and 1,24,000 Yaba tablets worth Rs 6.4 crores near Moltuk in Chandel district in southern Manipur.

Smuggling of drugs, arms and other contraband is taking place frequently in the northeastern region across the borders specially from Myanmar. Four northeastern states - Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), Manipur (398 km), Nagaland (215 km) and Mizoram (510 km) - share 1,643-km of unfenced border with Myanmar.