The special operations group (SOG) of the Siliguri Metropolitan Police and a team of the New Jalpaiguri police station jointly raided Naukaghat area here on Wednesday to arrest four persons and seized narcotics, a firearm and live ammunition from them.

The arrested quartet, including a woman, are suspected to be members of a drugs smuggling racket.

“We acted on a tip-off and conducted the raid. Around 1kg of brown sugar (a derivative of heroin), a revolver, 28 rounds of live ammunition, two magazines, four phones and Rs 17,500 in cash were recovered from the four,” said a police officer.

The arrested are Deepak Chandra Barman of Kadobarihat in Jalpaiguri, Rintu Sheikh of Mothabari in Malda, Ratan Biswas of Bagdogra and Zahara Begum of Matigara. The last two places are on the outskirts of Siliguri.

‘Smuggler’ in net

Troops of the 61 battalion of the BSF posted at Bhimpur border outpost of the India-Bangladesh border in South Dinajpur apprehended an alleged Bangladeshi smuggler, Animerh Pramanik, on Wednesday.

The resident of Gaibandha district of Bangladesh was nabbed trying to enter India. Some Indian and Bangladeshi currencies were seized from him and he has been handed over to the Hilli police station.

The troops also carried out raids on Wednesday across north Bengal and seized a number of contraband items including 9kg cannabis and bottles of cough syrup from near the India-Bangla borders of the region worth Rs 1.17 lakh, sources said.