Two held with heroin in Assam; 1,500 kg of drugs destroyed

Diphu/Kokrajhar (Assam), Feb 8 (PTI) A huge consignment of heroin, concealed in 15 soap boxes, was seized in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district on Tuesday and two persons, including a woman, were arrested in this connection.

During the day, the police also destroyed 1,500 kg of drugs, worth several crores of rupees, in Kokrajhar.

Acting on specific information, a patrolling police team set up check posts at Panbari forest gate in Karbi Anglong and intercepted an auto-rickshaw, carrying two persons who had come from Dimapur in Nagaland and had heroin their possession, Deputy Superintendent of Police Nahid Karishma said.

Fifteen soap boxes of heroin, weighing 194 gms, were recovered from the duo, the value of which is estimated to be around Rs 14 lakh, the SP stated.

The arrested individuals have been identified as 35-year-old Jushnara Begum and 44-year-old Md Abdus Salam.

Meanwhile, 1,500 kg of various drugs, seized since 2018 from different parts of Kokrajhar district, was set on fire at Chandmari ghat in the presence of Special DGP L R Bishnoi, Superintendent of Police Prateek Thube and other senior officials.

Bishnoi later told reporters strategies, such as awareness generation and prompt rehabilitation of victims, have been initiated to check drug menace in the state, on the orders of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.