Security staff of Air India and Airport police arrested three persons along with 170 kg of dry marijuana which was booked for Kolkata from the MBB airport of Agartala by an Air India flight, said police.
Dhruba Nath, SDPO, NCC Police Station, rushed to the airport on getting the information and led the operation along with Sanjit Deb Barman, Assistant Manager (Security) of AI.
The consignment of marijuana in 17 packets of 10 kg each, concealed in thermocol boxes and mentioned as fish, was brought to the AI cargo section at the airport by a staff member of a cargo carrying agency but the alert security staff there during X-ray scanning suspected that the consignment had something else and not fish.
On suspicion they went for physical checking in presence of police and discovered dry marijuana hidden in the packets.
The carrying agency staff member, Amitabha Datta, was arrested and on the basis of his confession during interrogation before the police, two other persons – Bapi Choudhury, owner of the carrying agency and Parimal Datta, who according to Bapi is the consignee – have been arrested.
During the last nine months after the new BJP-IPFT Government came to power and Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb declaring a war against drugs, more than 65000 ksg of marijuana have been recovered by the security force personnel and hundreds of drugs mafias have been arrested.
Besides marijuana, huge quantity of other drugs like heroin, brown sugar, Yaba tablets and other contraband have seized.
