Guwahati: Relentless offensive against drug rackets continued by Assam police. In a successful crackdown on the illegal drug trade, Assam police Special Task Force (STF) on July 11 arrested one wanted drug smuggler Mofizul Haque (34), along with Heroin worth Rs 16 crore.
Acting on specific inputs, a team of Assam Police STF led by Kalyan Kumar Pathak, Additional SP, operated in the Sonapur area on the outskirts of Guwahati city. As per the information, a drug peddler reportedly supplying drugs from Kangpokpi in Manipur to Assam’s Changsari was travelling on National Highway 37. The STF team intercepted one Honda City vehicle near the Sonapur toll gate. But when the STF team approached the vehicle, the drug smuggler driving the car broke the toll gate barricade and fled. The STF team fired three rounds of bullets to prevent the escape. After the police fired the drugs, the smuggler stopped the car and surrendered. One hundred forty-five soap boxes full of Heroin weighing 2 kg were seized from the vehicle. The police team arrested the drug smuggler, and he was identified as Mofizul Haque. The drugs consignment was brought from Manipur, and Mofizul planned to deliver it to Sangsari near Guwahati to smuggle it outside the state.
On July 11, Guwahati police raided a hideout in the Pilingkata area and arrested one drug peddler Alom Ali of the Nalbari district. The police team seized substantial amounts of Heroin in 72 plastic vials, one mobile and Rs 1320 in cash. The drug peddler was active in the outskirts of Guwahati city for an extended period and was cheating the police on many occasions. But on July 11, based on specific input, city police raided his hideout and arrested him with drugs. On July 10, the city police team from Noonmati PS arrested one Yahiya Khan (35) of Mairang after being caught red-handed with 109.91 gms of suspected Heroin kept concealed in 9 soap boxes. The peddler was active in Meghalaya and Guwahati. As per a police source, drug peddler Yahiya Khan smuggles a small quantity of drugs from Meghalaya and sells them in Guwahati city. But this time, the notorious drug peddler was caught red-handed by the vigilant city police team.
On the other hand, on July 10, a joint team of Barpeta police searched Afaz Ali’s residence in Howly town under Howly police station. It apprehended two drug peddlers, Afaz Ali (29) and Ramesh Ch Biswas (32) and seized 23 soap cases loaded with brown sugar weighing approx 939.88 grams. The market price of the seized drugs is over Rs 2 crore. Further, Rs 2,86,700/- in cash and three mobile phones were seized from their possession. An investigation of the case is in progress.
On June 26, Assam police seized drugs worth 38 crore in Guwahati and Karimganj districts. Wanted drug mafia Hasan and Mustakin were arrested in Guwahati with 2.2 kg of Heroin. Drug smugglers Ahad and Mokbul were arrested with drugs worth Rs 20 crores in Karimganj district. Assam police seized Heroin worth Rs 72 crores in 4 days from June 23 to June 26. Drugs worth Rs 45 crores were seized in Karimganj in two days, coming from Mizoram; Drugs worth Rs 9 crores were seized in Karbi Anglong district near the Nagaland border.
It should be mentioned that Assam police have arrested almost 9400 drug peddlers in the last two years as a part of its war on drugs. A total of 5600 cases have been registered in Assam under the NDPS Act during the same period. Assam police have confiscated drugs worth over Rs 1500 crore in the last two years. Almost 245 kilograms of Heroin, 72000 kilograms of Ganja, 283 kilograms of Opium, 98 lakhs Psychotropic tablets, 215 kilograms of Cannabis, 40 kilograms of Cocaine and 4.78 lakh bottles of banned cough syrups have been seized, and most of these were destroyed by the state police in the last two years.
