A day after nabbing three drug smugglers from the city, Special Task Force (STF) of Kolkata Police on Saturday afternoon arrested four persons, including two Manipur residents, and seized more than 13 kilograms of Yaba tablets worth Rs 3.6 crores on the international market from Hastings Road within Maidan police station area.
Acting on a tip-off, the officers from STF laid a trap near Syed Baba Mazar on Hastings Road and apprehended the four men. The arrested have been identified as Md. Fakir Ahamad alias Fakiruddin, Ziaur Rahman alias Zaidur, Md. Amirul Sheikh and Md. Atiur Rahaman alias Manoj. While Fakiruddin and Ziaur Rahman are from Lilong village in Thoubal district of Manipur, Amirul and Atiur are residents of Kaliachak in Malda.
“Two vehicles were intercepted near Syed Baba Mazar under Maidan police station limits at around 5.50 p.m. on Saturday and two Manipurbased drug peddlers along with their two Malda-based associates were detained. On searching the two vehicles, a huge quantity of amphetamines, commonly known as Yaba tablets was discovered. Approximately 1,20,000 pieces of Yaba tablets weighing about 13.68 kilograms were recovered from inside the vehicles. The tablets sealed inside plastic packets were stacked inside the hollow spaces of front and rear door panels of the vehicles,” said DC STF Aparajita Rai.
Police also confiscated cash amounting to 4 lakhs rupees from them. The market value of the seized drug is estimated to be about rupees 3.6 crores. The accused have been booked under Sections 22(c) and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and remanded in police custody by a court. A probe is on to ascertain where the consignment of drug was headed for.
The STF on Friday had arrested three drug peddlers including two Manipur residents from Taratala. In recent times, many drug peddlers from Manipur have been caught in the net of the city police. Sources said that the smuggling of heroin, Yaba and other banned narcotic substances from Manipur to Myanmar, Bangladesh and other parts of India has become a regular affair despite the frequent crackdowns by the police.