Meghalaya: EKH police make huge drug haul, 10 arrested
SHILLONG | Sep 04, 2019:
The Anti-Narcotics Task Force of East Khasi Hills police, in its biggest ever haul so far, recovered 1195 grams of heroin and arrested a total number of ten people in connection with this huge seizure. The street value of the heroin is worth not less than Rs 5 crore.
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Talking to reporters here today, SDPO Sadar, Jagpal Singh Dhanoa, who is in-charge of the ANTF team informed that on September 02 morning, they had put a naka at View Point, Mawiong Rim after receiving inputs that one person identified as Alberto will try to smuggle 40 soap boxes of heroin. They managed to intercept the vehicle that Alberto was travelling in but no drugs were found.
"We interrogated him (Alberto) on the spot. We could see incriminating text messages between Alberto and one person from Manipur by the name Sakshi who is in the radar of the police," Jagpal informed.
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Informing that they had made a calculated risk by taking Alberto to Guwahati, he said that on reaching Guwahati, Alberto took them to Beltola adding that the local police from Guwahati had also accompanied the ANTF team of East Khasi Hills.
"We conducted search in the house of one person Abhi Das in Beltola where Sakshi would usually stay when he comes to Guwahati. It appears both of them are close associates and are involved in the drugs racket," said the SDPO Sadar.
He said that they conducted a search and seized 124 grams of heroine which was hidden inside the body of an inverter adding that the police arrested both Abhi Das and Sakshi.
According to Jagpal, Sakshi accepted the fact during the interrogation that Alberto had pick up 40 soap boxes from him on the morning of September 02, revealing to the police team that the drug consignments came from Nagaland.
The head of the ANTF team said that he (Sakshi) told the police that three persons had come from Nagaland and are residing in a hotel nearby.
"We raided the hotel where the three people from Nagaland, who brought the consignments, were staying. We did not find anything since the 70 soap boxes of heroin were already dispatched," he said.
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According to Jagpal, out of the 70 boxes, 40 were given to Alberto, 20 were given to another dealer in Barpeta and another 10 to 12 boxes were found inside the house of Abhi Das.
"We arrested them and seized the vehicle which was used to bring those drugs from Nagaland to Guwahati and which finally landed in Shillong," the head of the ANTF team said.
The SDPO Sadar revealed that during the interrogation, Sakshi gave an input that another lady who had come from Manipur by the name of Gracy was staying in one of lodges in Beltola area.
"It took the police two hours to locate the lodge since he (Sakshi) informed the police that he had seen her in that area. During the raid of Gracy room, we were able to recover 694 grams of heroin in 59 soap boxes," Jagpal said adding that the police also arrested Gracy.
Informing that the police landed in Shillong on morning of September 03, he said that the ANTF team resumed their raid on Tuesday evening to track the 40 boxes of heroin which were given to Alberto.
"After the continuous interrogation of Alberto and with the help of the sources in the ground, we raided three different houses and interrogated five different people. It was in the middle of the night that we finally found 277 gram of heroin in 24 soap boxes from one of the house in Laitkor," SDPO Sadar said adding that there are possibilities that the heroin packed in one of the boxes was consume by the three drug peddlers among themselves.
According to him, one of the drug peddlers had claimed that the heroin of the remaining 15 boxes had been dumped in the one the stream at Sumer in Ri-Bhoi district due to the fear of being caught. "We are still hoping that we will seize all the remaining 15 boxes," Jagpal said. He also informed that the ANTF team had so far seized 4500 grams of heroine this year.
Meanwhile, East Khasi Hills SP, Claudia Lyngwa said that in the earlier cases, the people who had been arrested were from Manipur since the consignment was coming from the other side.
"But since the route is coming from the opposite way so the people who are directly involved in drug business are not coming to Shillong to deliver the consignment. It is the local people from here who now goes to collect the consignment. These are the people who are main suppliers of drugs in Shillong," Lyngwa said.
According to her, the street value of small "puria" has gone upto Rs 1200 from Rs 300 due to the scarcity of drugs in Shillong.
The SP also said that with the revamping of the FSL in Shillong, the results of drug samples has come within one or two months.
"Once we get the report the case is done. Now it is left to trial. Hopefully we should good conviction," he said.
