West Kameng police busted a drug racked and arrested five persons. Image: Northeast Now
West Kameng police busted a drug racket and arrested five persons. Image: Northeast Now

The anti-narcotics squad of West Kameng Police has claimed to have busted a ‘drug racket’ and subsequently arrested five persons including a postmaster and an IRBn constable.

“Based on a tip-off from reliable sources, Bomdila police station officer-in-charge, sub-inspector Krishnendu Dev and his team on Friday intercepted a hatchback in which two of alleged accused persons were travelling in and recovered around 12.5 grams of heroin, a highly addictive drug,” West Kameng superintendent of police Raja Banthia said.

The duo- Dibyajyoti Patro and Norbu Monpa- was coming back to Bomdila from Bhalukpong and they had concealed the drug inside the bonnet of the car,” the SP said.

“The car was seized and the accused persons were arrested in the presence of the executive magistrate,” the SP added.

Banthia said the arrested individuals who have been taken into custody, on further investigation revealed that one Kalido Pertin, a postmaster in Bomdila, had financed the purchase with Rs 1.15 lakh in order to procure the drug from Tezpur, Assam.

“The postmaster and one IRBn constable who assisted the peddlers to cross the drugs through Bhalukpong check gate has also been arrested,” the SP said.

He further added that a case under section 21(b)/27/27(A)/29 of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 has been registered.

All the arrested accused were produced before the special judge on Saturday and remanded in police custody, he said.

Meanwhile, the police on Saturday also arrested one drug peddler–Mansu Ansari alias Sheru from the 5th Mile area of Bomdila and recovered 5 vials of narcotic drugs from his possession.

Ansari has been placed in police custody and interrogation carried on him so far has revealed that his area of operation is Dirang, SP Banthia said.

The West Kameng district police had established an anti-narcotics squad earlier this year to tackle the menace of drugs in the district.

Accordingly, an operation titled ‘Minesweeper’ was launched in the month of April by constituting a dedicated and specialized team under the supervision of deputy superintendent of police S N Phaichelupa.

Several arrests have been made by the team so far under the same.

Appreciating the work of the anti-narcotics squad, SP Banthia has at the same time appealed all the community-based organizations of the district to come forward and work with the police to eradicate the menace of drugs from the region.

Damien Lepcha is Northeast Now Correspondent in Arunachal Pradesh. He can be reached at: [email protected]