Police seized 3.5kg brown sugar (a derivative of heroin) worth around Rs 7 crore in Siliguri on Wednesday and arrested four persons.
The seizure and the arrests were made jointly by the special operations group of Siliguri Metropolitan Police and Ashighar police outpost.
“We conducted a joint raid after receiving a tip-off at Kankata More along Eastern Bypass and arrested four persons who were carrying the narcotic. The estimated price of the seized item is around Rs 7 crore. This is one of the major drug hauls carried out by the police in Siliguri in the recent past,” said a police officer.
The arrested quartet were Kamal Sekh of Hatgobindapur in Nadia, Md. Meherul, a resident of Biswas Colony in Matigara near Siliguri, Monirul Islam of Bishnupur and Samsul Alam of Acchiper Chhoto Battala. Both Bishnupur and Acchiper Chhoto Battala are in South 24-Parganas district.
The Alipurduar district administration conducted raids on Monday and Tuesday to prevent illegal extraction of minor minerals like sand, stones and pebbles.
On Tuesday, raids were conducted at Bundapani in Madarihat block and in Kalchini and Kumargram blocks.
Surendra Kumar Meena, the district magistrate, Y. Raghuvamshi, the district police chief, and other senior officials were present during the raids. Altogether, 19 dump-trucks, five tractors and three excavators were seized, along with piles of minor minerals which were illegally extracted from different rivers.
“We have seized a number of vehicles and equipment. In the current fiscal, around 206 vehicles have been seized so far and a fine close to Rs 1 crore has been imposed on these vehicles,” said Meena.
