District police arrested a suspected narcotics peddler on Monday and seized brown sugar, a derivative of heroin, from his possession, in the heart of Malda town.

The cost of the contraband is said to be around Rs 1 crore, police sources said.

Sources said officials of Englishbazar police station had information that some drugs would be peddled near the flyover which is in Rathbari, a crossing in the heart of Malda town.

Accordingly, they reached the spot and soon found a person, later identified as Bachchan Mandal.

“Our men detained him. As he was frisked, they found two packets containing brown sugar in his possession. One of the packets had 1.010 kilos of the narcotic while the other had 504 grams of the same substance,” said a senior police officer.

Accused Mandal is a resident of Ujirpur, an area under Kaliachak police station of Malda district.

A case has been registered against him under the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

"The cost of the seized drug is around Rs 1 crore in the grey market," the officer said.

“It seems the accused is a carrier who delivers drugs to different locations for money. We are trying to find out the source of the brown sugar as well as the persons whom he was supposed to deliver the consignment,” the officer added.

Bombs found

Malda police recovered 44 crude bombs on Monday. Sources said residents spotted the bombs kept in five bags off NH12 near a bidi factory in Kaliachak. Police rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area.

Later, the bomb squad of the CID defused the bombs in a deserted location. A probe is on.

Firefighting posers

A blaze that occurred at a shop in Alipurduar town early on Monday bared two major issues.

Shops in most local markets are so congested that a fire tender can't reach the site easily. Also, in several locations, there is no natural water source, which can aggravate any blaze in commercial areas.

Around 2am, a fire broke out at a wholesale shop that deals in cosmetics in Barabazaar, ward 10. Firemen reached the area.

“However, the market is so congested that we could not move the fire engine near the fire-hit shop. Still, we started working. As we searched for a natural water source to douse the flames, we found only a small pond with inadequate water,” said Pradip Sarkar, an official of the state fire service department. "We sent our fire engine to a reservoir 3km away."