Rs 15-crore drugs seized in Assam, three held

Guwahati, Aug 2 (PTI) Different types of drugs, including heroin and morphine, worth Rs 15 crore have been seized and three persons were arrested on Tuesday from Karbi Anglong district of Assam, police said.

According to a senior police officer of the district, the trio was coming from Manipur in a vehicle and was heading towards Siliguri in West Bengal when it was seized at a location under Dillai police station in the early hours of Tuesday.

“Acting on a tip-off, our team launched an operation. They intercepted the vehicle and arrested the three persons, all of whom belong to Manipur. The police also seized huge quantity of drugs,”he told PTI.

The seizures include 380 gm of heroin, one kg of morphine and two kg of methamphetamine, and the value of these have been estimated to be around Rs 15 crore as per international standards, the officer said.

“… this consignment is a branded one. It is a sealed pack of the old infamous ‘Double UO Globe’ brand. This clearly signifies that the drug originated from the international market of the Golden Triangle network,” the senior Assam Police officer said.

The notorious ‘Golden Triangle’ drug cartel represents the region coinciding with the rural mountains of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand. It is Southeast Asia’s main opium-producing region and one of the oldest narcotics supply routes to Europe and North America.

Drugs produced in the ‘Golden Triangle’ enter India through Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland from Bhamo, Lashio and Mandalay in Myanmar.

India shares a 1,643-km long border with Myanmar.

Drugs, including opium, heroin, methamphetamine and many more, are smuggled from Myanmar into the Northeast. Also, drugs illicitly cultivated in India travel through the same route for trade.