Nine people involved in the smuggling of drugs worth over Rs 15 crore in the international market were arrested in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district, police said on Tuesday.
Two smugglers from Nagaland – Tuanbiaklian Guite and Imliakum Longkumer – were arrested on Monday and 2.7 kg of heroin were seized from their possession, district SP Jagpal Dhanoa told PTI. Another group of 7 smugglers from Tripura, who came in two vehicles, were detained at Khliehriat on the same day and over 251 kg of marijuana were seized, he said.
The two smugglers from Nagaland were found with 200 soap cases, containing yellowish-orange powder, hidden in their vehicle, the SP said.
Acting on a tip-off, the district police stepped up vigil on vehicles entering the state and two more vehicles coming from Tripura were seized with 251 kg of marijuana worth over Rs 10 lakh.
Cases were registered at the Khliehriat police station in the district and investigations in both cases were being taken up to find the forward and backward linkages, the SP said.
The arrested persons from Tripura include Joyel Das, Mohan Mazumdar, Gaurav Gupta, Karnajit Sarkar, Sujit Sarkar, Sanjit Sarkar, and Haridas Sarkar, he said.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma commented on the seizure of the banned drugs.
"Huge haul of drugs! Narco traffickers try to ruin youth but alert @ejhpolice foiled their evil designs, nabbed two accused and seized 2.74 kg heroin worth Rs 15 crore in a well-synchronized ops at Nongspung today,” he tweeted on Monday.