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Agartala, Oct 18 (IANS) Chief Minister Manik Saha on Saturday said Tripura Police has intensified its anti-narcotics operations in the last 10 days in coordination with intelligence agencies, leading to the seizure of huge quantities of banned substances across the state.
Speaking on various social media platforms, Chief Minister Saha said that during the last 10 days, the police have recovered 896 kg of ganja, 90,617 bottles of cough syrup, 180 highly addictive methamphetamine tablets and 27.78 grams of heroin from various places.
A total of 15 cases have been registered under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act 1985, and 16 accused persons have been arrested in connection with the seizure of various drugs.
Saha, who also holds the Home portfolio, said the Tripura Police has reiterated its commitment to make the state free from the drug menace and bring all the key players involved in the illicit trade under the ambit of the law.
He said that the State Government is working strongly to secure a drug-free future for the youth of Tripura by following the policy of ‘zero tolerance’ towards drugs.
Meanwhile, various security forces, including Assam Rifles, have seized drugs worth more than Rs 134.50 crore in Tripura in less than three weeks. On Friday (October 17), in a joint operation, security forces recovered drugs worth Rs 4.5 crore from a goods train coming from Delhi parked at Jiraniya railway station in West Tripura district.
Tripura Police, Assam Rifles, Government Railway Police (GRP), Special Task Force (STF) and Customs jointly conducted a thorough search of the goods train and recovered 90,000 bottles of banned Escuff cough syrup, which contains codeine phosphate and triprolidine hydrochloride, commonly used as narcotics in India and neighboring Bangladesh, a senior official said. Is misused.
Police have continued their search operation to trace the main accused responsible for transportation of banned Escuf cough syrup by train from Delhi.
On October 6, in one of the biggest drug hauls, Assam Rifles, in close coordination with customs officials, seized narcotics worth Rs 70 crore in the border Khowai district of Tripura and arrested four drug smugglers.
Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of Assam Rifles and Customs officials intercepted two trucks carrying cement as cover cargo for drug smuggling and recovered 69.61 kg of highly addictive methamphetamine pills worth approximately Rs 70 crore.
A defense spokesperson had said that the October 6 operation was a follow-up to a successful operation conducted on September 29 in the border Mohanpur area of West Tripura district. In the September 29 operation, 60.77 kg of banned methamphetamine pills worth Rs 60 crore were recovered.
A senior police officer said the drugs seized on September 29 and October 6 might have been smuggled from Myanmar to Tripura via Mizoram and southern Assam, from where they were intended to be smuggled into neighboring Bangladesh.
Tripura, which shares an 856-km border with Bangladesh, is surrounded by the neighboring country on three sides, making the northeastern state vulnerable to cross-border migration, crime, illegal trade and smuggling. Except for a few stretches, most parts of the border are fenced to prevent smuggling, cross-border crimes and illegal infiltration.
–IANS
SC/And