Heroin 'shipped from Manipur' seized in Guwahati; 8 arrested

GUWAHATI, Aug 30
Over 1.8 kilogram of heroin worth Rs 14 crore in the international market have been seized from two different places by the Guwahati Police and at least eight alleged drug peddlers have been arrested, a senior police officer said.
The heroin was seized during operations on Saturday late night after the police received specific information from their sources, Guwahati Police Commissioner Harmeet Singh told PTI.
“During last night, we had two drug hauls in different parts of the city. In the first case, we seized around 1.324 kg of heroin. In the second operation, around 500 grams of heroin were seized,” he added.
In the first operation, acting on specific information about the shipment of a consignment from Manipur, a Guwahati Police special squad, led by Joint Commissioner Partha Sarathi Mahanta, intercepted a sports utility vehicle on Saturday night and seized the heroin packed in 100 soap cases, he added.
“This consignment was tracked by the special squad right from Moreh to Churachandpur in Manipur, till Sonapur near Guwahati where it was seized. The packets were concealed under the dashboard and inside the rear tail lights of the car.
The vehicle had to be opened up by specialist mechanics to get to the drugs, the senior police officer said.
Four persons from Manipur were arrested in this connection, Singh said.
Two mechanics, traveling in the vehicle, were among those arrested, the police officer said.
After questioning the arrested drug traffickers, the special squad immediately launched operations in Guwahati and apprehended two persons hailing from Manipur and Nagaland, who allegedly were receivers of the consignment, he added.
“In this case, the traffickers used a different modus operandi of using a light motor vehicle instead of larger ones like trucks for transporting drugs. An investigation is on to unearth further linkages,” Singh said.
The Central Guwahati Police District Special Squad and Chandmari police station conducted the second operation, which continued from Saturday night to Sunday morning, to unearth the “next level” of drug traffickers and apprehend them.
The operation led to the arrest of two persons from the city and the recovery of 35 packets of heroin from their possession, Singh said.
The police also recovered Rs 7.19 lakh cash and a car, the Police Commissioner said.
The law enforcers had arrested four drug peddlers on Saturday from Guwahati city and seized heroin from their possession. East Mojo/PTI