Two drug smugglers, including a lady, were arrested on Tuesday at Bordumsa in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia district, and huge quantity of brown sugar was seized from their possession.
Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of Assam Police and Excise Department raided a hotel in Bordumsa market on Tuesday afternoon, and seized 19 sachets brown sugar from their possession.
Police arrested Kongres Moran, a resident of Tokopather village under Bordumsa Police Station. His daughter-in-law Ranjita Moran was also arrested.
A case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, has been registered against Kongres Moran and his daughter-in-law.
It is being suspected that both were part of an international drugs smuggling network, and had close links with Myanmarese nationals.
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Both the drugs smugglers were remanded to police custody, and were taken to Margherita for interrogation. Customs officials are also likely to interrogate the two smugglers.
Police have handed over the 19 packets of suspected drugs to the Excise Department, and samples are being sent to Guwahati for forensic examination.
During the last few months, a section of traders in Bordumsa in Tinsukia district were found to be involved in drugs smuggling, in connivance with a section of enforcement officials and police personnel.
On June 19, three persons, including a woman, were arrested in Bordumsa market area for their involvement in drugs smuggling.
Radha Moran, wife of one Amal Moran, and two others, Ashim Konwar and Guna Bora were arrested under the section 385 of IPC, r/w 21 (b) of NDPS Act at Bordumsa police station.
Three police constables attached to Bordumsa Police Station were also suspended for their alleged involvement in extorting money from the drugs peddlers.
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The raids against the drugs smugglers were a part of actions initiated following complaints by common people.
People have been complaining that criminals and drugs smugglers along the Assam-Arunachal border and especially at Pengaree and Bordumsa had unleashed a reign of terror.
The criminals have been engaged in activities including torching of married women, drug trafficking, kidnapping and terrorist activities.
Members of Moran Student Union, AASU, AJYCP and Gorkha bodies have been running a crusade against the drug peddlers and also demanded to evict an illegal fish market, which is being used for anti-social activities.
Locals complained that the illegal fish market along the border road has become a drug peddling hub, and almost every vendor was selling drugs using various code words.
Locals alleged that because of police’s laid back attitude, over a period of time, the area emerged as a major drugs distribution hub.