Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said that in two separate incidents, the Assam Police have busted major drug peddling attempt. According to CM Sarma, in Golaghat, at least 512.58 gram of narcotics were seized that have a international market value of Rs 3 crore.Three persons were taken into custody by the police.
Meanwhile, in a separate operation in Kokrajhar, police seized 963.19 kg of ganja, CM Sarma added. He also asserted that the operation against narcotics will continue in Assam. Earlier in the previous week, Assam Police seized drugs valued at Rs 9.5 crore and arrested three peddlers, including a woman, in two separate operations.
An Assam Police spokesman said that based on credible intelligence regarding the transportation of contraband from Silchar (southern Assam) to Guwahati via the Silchar-Coimbatore Express train, a team from Panbazar police station was deployed at Guwahati Railway Station.
A female suspect was identified and apprehended upon the train's arrival, he added. Following due legal procedures and in the presence of independent witnesses, the search led to the recovery of 20,000 highly addictive methamphetamine tablets, valued at Rs 5 crore, one mobile handset and Rs 1,000 in cash.
The accused, identified as Parvina Khatun Bibi (31), has been taken into custody. The detainee is a resident of Sadialer Khuti village in West Bengal's Cooch Behar district. In another operation, the Assam Police had arrested two drug peddlers at Salchapra in Silchar in the state's Cachar district, and seized 847 grams of heroin and 4.035 kg of opium from them.
The total estimated value of the drugs is Rs 4.5 crore. Police suspected that the drugs smuggled from Myanmar through Mizoram entered Assam through a clandestine route. Myanmar, which shares a 1,643 km unfenced border with four northeastern states -- Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, and Mizoram -- serves as a key transit point for drugs, particularly heroin and methamphetamine tablets, entering India.
Myanmar's Chin State is a hub for smuggling of varied drugs, exotic wildlife animals and many other contraband through six Mizoram districts -- Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Hnahthial, Saitual and Serchhip.