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Arunachal: Interstate drug racket busted, heroin worth Rs 1.25 cr recovered

Itanagar: In a major drug haul, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Arunachal Pradesh Police on Wednesday arrested two female members of an inter-state drug mafia and seized around 471.56 grams of heroin worth Rs 1.25 crore from their possession.

The arrested persons have been identified as Mariyam Basumatary (30) of Hatipatiashantipara village in Tezpur, Assam and Choti Rapung (18) of Seppa, East Kameng district.

SIT (Crime) superintendent of police Rohit Rajbir Singh said the inter-state drug racket was being operated by individuals based in Assam, with the narcotics being sourced from the capital of Nagaland.

“The SIT recently received an intel about the movement of a massive amount of banned contraband (heroin), from Dimapur, Nagaland via Assam to Arunachal Pradesh using the public transportation network. After developing this information for over a month, the SIT strike team apprehended these 2 drug peddlers in Nirjuli, while they were coming through a night super bus running from Dimapur to Naharlagun,” the SP said.

The strike team consisted of inspector Ashok Tayeng, sub-inspector Chuman Chena, constables Dawa Dorjee, Nyamar Riba, Tagiam Giba, J Sikom and lady constables Sahin Ansari and Sonam Chiriju.

“A huge amount of contraband psychotropic substance (heroin), weighing 471.56 grams (commercial quantity) was seized from their possession. The market value of the seized contraband is pegged at around 1.25 crores,” Singh said.

The SP further said that raids are being conducted at various locations in continuation to Wednesday’s operation and the Dimapur source is also being identified.

A case under relevant sections has been registered and further interrogation is being carried out, he added.