Ganja valued at Rs 4 crore seized in Tripura, two held

Agartala, May 12 (IANS) Tripura Police on Monday seized about 960 kg of dry Ganja (marijuana) cannabis valued at Rs 4 crore at the Churaibari inter-state gate along Assam in northern Tripura district, officials said.

A Police official said this was one of the biggest seizures of drugs this year. He said that the drugs were concealed inside electric transformers while being ferried in a Guwahati-bound truck.

A police team acting on secret information launched an operation led by Churaibari police station Officer-in-Charge Khokan Saha and intercepted the vehicle before it crossed over to neighbouring Assam.

During the search of the electric transformers, police noticed that the nuts of several electric equipment were unusually loose, raising suspicion.

A technical team later searched the transformers and found the Ganja, contained in 96 packets, inside these machines. The driver, Ardesh Kumar (42), and his assistant, Pramod Kumar (59), both hailing from Uttar Pradesh, were arrested.

A case has been registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act 1985.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha recently said that though Ganja is illegally cultivated in the state and not consumed in the state, and smuggled to other states, including Bihar, from Tripura.

Asserting his government's campaign of 'war on drugs' and having a zero-tolerance policy against the drug menace, the Chief Minister had said that the state police have registered 52 cases and 70 people were convicted in the last three years under the NDPS Act.

He had said that various types of drugs, including methamphetamine tablets, Phensedyl cough syrup, and heroin, are coming into Tripura from Myanmar via Mizoram and Assam, while ganja is going out of the state.

Saha, who holds both the Health and Family Welfare and Home Departments, said that the police and the other law enforcement agencies have been directed to adopt a zero-tolerance policy against the illegal drug trade and various other drug menaces.

--IANS

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