Six drug peddlers held in Assam and Manipur; narcotics worth Rs 23 crore seized

Assam and Manipur Police, in separate anti-narcotics operations, arrested six alleged drug peddlers, including a woman, and seized a huge quantity of methamphetamine tablets, heroin and brown sugar collectively valued at around Rs 23 crore, officials said on Saturday. 

Three of the arrested accused are from Assam, while the remaining three are residents of Manipur.

A senior police official said that personnel of the Special Task Force (STF), along with Assam Police, acting on specific intelligence inputs, intercepted a vehicle at Amingaon, on the outskirts of Guwahati. The vehicle was carrying three occupants from Manipur.

During a thorough search of the vehicle, the police recovered 50,000 highly addictive methamphetamine tablets weighing around 5 kg (excluding the packaging), concealed in specially built secret compartments of the vehicle. The police also recovered five soap cases containing 67.5 grams of heroin (excluding the packaging) from the vehicle. The total value of the seized contraband is estimated at around Rs 12.5 crore in the international illicit drug market.

The three accused, who were arrested on the spot, were identified as Kh Tabish (24), Thekcham Avinash Singh (41), both residents of Thoubal district in Manipur, and Nongmaithem Biswajit (38), a resident of Imphal West district.

Police said methamphetamine tablets, popularly known as Yaba or "party tablets", contain a combination of methamphetamine and caffeine and are widely abused as high-potency narcotics in Bangladesh, Myanmar and several neighbouring countries, besides parts of India.

Law enforcement agencies have also frequently intercepted consignments of Codeine Phosphate-based cough syrup, another substance that is illegally trafficked into Bangladesh. These highly addictive narcotic substances are prohibited under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in India.

Investigators suspect that both the methamphetamine tablets and the heroin were smuggled from Myanmar and transported through Manipur before entering Assam for further distribution. Security agencies have repeatedly expressed concern that Manipur and Mizoram have emerged as major drug trafficking corridors in the Northeast due to their long and largely unfenced international borders with Myanmar.

Mizoram shares an unfenced border of about 510 km with Myanmar and around 318 km with Bangladesh, while Manipur has an approximately 400-km unfenced border with Myanmar, making the region vulnerable to cross-border smuggling of narcotics and other contraband.

Meanwhile, in Manipur, police personnel conducting routine vehicle checks at the Leingangpokpi checkpost in Jiribam district intercepted a car and arrested its occupant, identified as Bhima Panika (42), a resident of Karbi Anglong district in Assam. During the search, the police recovered 5.21 kg of brown sugar from the vehicle. The seized narcotics are estimated to be worth more than Rs 10 crore in the illegal market.

In another anti-drug operation, Manipur Police arrested Shahna (27), a resident of Kwakta in Bishnupur district, after conducting a search at her residence. During the operation, the police recovered two soap cases containing approximately 70 grams of heroin powder. The value of the seized heroin is estimated at over Rs 55 lakh.

In a separate development, Manipur Police, continuing the investigation into a case registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, at Patsoi Police Station, arrested the main accused, identified as Meraimayum Razak Ahamed (35), a resident of Yairipok Tulihal Mayai Leikai in Imphal East district.

The accused was arrested from his residence in connection with an earlier case involving the recovery of brown sugar from a Pajero SUV that had been found at a vehicle workshop. Police said further investigation is underway to trace the wider network involved in the narcotics trade.