Dibrugarh police on Sunday arrested a drug smuggler while transporting a consignment of 475 grams of brown sugar.
The smuggler was identified as Mohd Safiqul Ali, a resident of Kalibari area, which is known as the dark underbelly of Dibrugarh town, notorious for its thriving narcotics syndicate.
Dibrugarh police have started crackdown against drug smuggling and so far several peddlers have been arrested from different locations of the Dibrugarh town.
A case has been registered against Ali at the Dibrugarh police station under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.
“The drug smuggler was caught red handed while he was trying to transport the consignment of brown sugar hidden in his scooty, a police official said.
“Initial investigation points to his involvement in illegal drug trafficking. We will produce him in court and ask for his remand in order to find out the names of the others who are involved in the illegal drug trafficking,” he said.
On August 25, Dibrugarh police made one of its biggest drug hauls when it seized a whooping 1.14 kg of heroin from a house in Kalibari.
The estimated value of the seized contraband was said to be over Rs 70 lakh in the local market.
An amount of Rs 19.55 lakh was also seized during the raid.
While the drug dealer and the owner of the house Raja Ali managed to give the slip to the cops by jumping from the first floor of the building, Ali’s wife Husna Begum was taken into custody.
Both the husband and wife used to run their illegal trade from their residence which is located in a maze of narrow and dark bylanes in Kalibari area.
According to police, both Mohd Safiqul Ali and Raja Ali are close aides of notorious drug smuggler Elahi Sheikh who is currently in jail.
Sources said that after Elahi was arrested by the Dibrugarh police in July 2016, he choose some of his trusted aides and henchmen to run the trade in his absence.