In a major drug bust, Assam Police seized contraband worth Rs 9.5 crore and arrested three individuals, including a woman, across two separate operations, officials announced on Wednesday.
According to an Assam Police spokesperson, a team from Panbazar Police Station in Guwahati was deployed at the railway station after receiving credible intelligence about the transportation of drugs from Silchar to Guwahati via the Silchar-Coimbatore Express train. Upon the train’s arrival, police apprehended a female suspect, later identified as Parvina Khatun Bibi, a 31-year-old resident of Sadialer Khuti village in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district. Following legal procedures and a search with independent witnesses present, officers recovered 20,000 methamphetamine tablets, valued at Rs 5 crore, along with a mobile phone and Rs 1,000 in cash.
In a second operation on Tuesday night, two other drug peddlers were arrested at Salchapra in Silchar, Assam’s Cachar district. Police seized 847 grams of heroin and 4.035 kg of opium from the suspects. The total value of the drugs in this case was estimated at Rs 4.5 crore.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma praised the police for their efforts in curbing the drug trade. Legal actions are underway under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of 1985.
Authorities suspect that the drugs, primarily methamphetamine and heroin, were smuggled from Myanmar through Mizoram before entering Assam. Myanmar, with its long, unfenced border with northeastern India, serves as a key transit point for drugs smuggled into the country. Chin State in Myanmar is a notorious hub for the trafficking of drugs, exotic wildlife, and other contraband through multiple districts in Mizoram.
