DRI, Police & para-military forces seize 78 drums of ganja, heroin & tablets
By TIOL News Service
KOLKATA, AUG 18, 2018: THE DRI sleuths along with officers of Tripura State Police and CRPF 71 BN in a joint operation searched two areas of Ghati Ghar of Kamalnagar at Sonumura in Sepahijala district of Tripura and recovered 78 plastic drums of different sizes. The drums were concealed and buried under the soil and were dug out in an operation that went on through the night. On opening the drums, they were found to contain ganja (cannabis).
The total weight of the ganja is 2330 Kgs and having a market value of around Rs. 1.28 crore. The ganja has been seized by DRI on 17th August 2018 under the NDPS Act.
Less than a fortnight ago, on August 2, 2018, in a similar operation, officers of DRI along with Tripura State Police and BSF 74 BN recovered 3390 kgs ganja valued at Rs.1.86 Crore from 85 plastic drums concealed under the soil at Sonamura.
In another joint operation with Assam Rifles in Manipur, the DRI seized 1.29 kg Brown Sugar powder and 1,30,000 tablets of Methamphetamine. The contraband drugs were found stored at a house at L Youjang village. The drugs were smuggled into India through the India-Myanmar border. The goods have been seized on 17th August 2018. The market value of the brown sugar is estimated to be around Rs 1.29 Crore while that of the tablets of Methamphetamine is Rs. 3.9 Crores taking the total value of seizure to around Rs. 5.19 Crores.
DRI is the lead agency to combat cross border crime involving smuggling of gold, consumer goods, drugs and narcotics, wild life articles, Fake Indian Currency Notes and counterfeit goods, import-export frauds and trade based money laundering.
The north-eastern region having boundaries with Burma, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and China is particularly sensitive from the perspective of smuggling activities and cross border crime. Combating this cross border crime in this region poses various challenges on account of factors such as rugged topography and porosity of the borders, lack of economic opportunities and the lure of easy money. To overcome these challenges, in order to further the cause of enforcement of cross border crime, DRI has joined hands with various formations such as Customs, Assam Rifles, BSF, State Police agencies, Forests and Wild Life Crime Control Bureau amongst others in the region.