Guwahati: At least nine people, including four constables, were arrested in Mizoram’s Aizawl recently for allegedly committing a series of frauds involving impersonation and fake drugs, a police officer said on Tuesday.
Aizawl Superintendent of Police (SP) Zosangliana told reporters that the nine accused—four of them policemen and the rest civilian women—were allegedly involved in duping people, looting lakhs of rupees by inducing them to buy narcotic substances, which were mostly fake, and other contraband items.
Acting on specific input, staff of the Special Narcotics Police Station in Aizawl launched an operation at the New Capital Complex area on December 15 and arrested three constables while they were waiting for a consignment of methamphetamine tablets from their accomplice, he said.
The Special Narcotics Police then rushed to the neighbouring Khatla locality after one of the accused received a phone call informing him that the drugs would be handed over there, he said.
When the police team reached Khatla, they seized methamphetamine tablets from the possession of a woman who had brought the drugs, Zosangliana said.
The woman, identified as the mastermind of the cheating operation and owner of the seized drugs, was immediately arrested, and upon thorough inspection, the methamphetamine tablets were found to be fake, he said.
Subsequent investigation led to the arrest of another constable and four civilians, all women, for their alleged involvement in the frauds, he said.
The accused were booked under various sections of the BNS, including cheating by impersonation, and were remanded to judicial custody, he said.
Zosangliana said that during sustained investigation, the police unmasked the “modus operandi” of the accused.
According to the SP, the accused would scout for buyers to purchase drugs or other contraband items, which were fake in nature, and once a deal was settled, they would fix the time and venue for the exchange of drugs and money.
When the sellers and buyers met at designated places to exchange the items, the constables, pretending to be CID officers, would arrest the buyers and steal money from them, he said.
The buyers were usually released after handing over the money, which was then shared among the accused, he said.
The accused successfully carried out such frauds more than six times in recent years, Zosangliana said.
He said three of the arrested constables were also involved in a duping case that occurred on November 18 at Ramthar Veng on the northeastern outskirts of Aizawl, where four masked men impersonating CID officers waylaid a man and took away Rs 5 lakh while he was attempting to exchange detonators for money through middlewomen.