Itanagar police seized heroin worth Rs 90 lakh, arrest 21 peddlers in March

Itanagar: The Itanagar Capital Region (ICR) police seized 756.85 grams of drugs (heroin) worth Rs 90 lakh and arrested 21 drug peddlers in the region in March.

Addressing media personnel on Saturday, Chiram said the police had seized the highest quantity of drugs in a single case from various locations of the ICR within a couple of weeks.

Among the 21 arrested, Dimapur-based drug supplier Jabir Hussain, 28, and his accomplice Reena Biswas, 29, had 311 grams of the narcotic substance with them worth Rs 30 lakh.

Chiram revealed that the anti-drug operation started in March 2022 with the arrest of one Jumba Loya of Dokum Colony, Naharlagun. The police recovered 18.37 grams of heroin from his possession, and subsequently, a case under sections 21(a)/27/27(A)/29 of the NDPS Act was registered at the Naharlagun police station, and a team under SDPO Dekio Gumja was formed.

“Subsequently, the team rooted out the information on the drug suppliers from Loya. The police arrested four more drug peddlers from Baderdewa and Gumto areas and seized a total of 125.28 grams of suspected heroin,” he said.

The Capital SP stated that the police also arrested Sanjay Doley, 29, from Gumto, Moniram Das, 24, and his accomplices Kunal Chetry, 26, and Rohit Borah, 20, from Banderdewa in connection with the case.

Chiram further revealed that in a separate case based on intelligence inputs, the police on March 28 arrested Assam-based drug supplier Amir Ali, 30, who came to deliver a package at Sood village, Naharlagun. 

“Case under sections 279/336/337/427/353 of the IPC read with sections 21(b), 27/29 of the NDPS act was registered at the Papu Hill police station, and thereafter, the police arrested Debojit Mili, 22, Habijul Islam, 28, and Jabir Hussain, 28. All the arrested are from Lakhimpur district except for Jabir, who is from Karimganj district of Assam,” Chiram said.

Jabir and Reena were caught after the police set up a trap for the suppliers of Amir Ali. Jabir later revealed the names of many of his associates who procure drugs from him and then sell them off to youngsters in ICR.

“The police believe that the arrest of Jabir will comprehensively hamper drug trade within the ICR. Jabir is the biggest supplier of drugs in the state and has sold drugs worth more than Rs 3 crore in the ICR,” he said, adding that the police are committed to bringing down the entire supply chain and arresting all his associates.

Meanwhile, the Itanagar police team also arrested habitual drug peddlers Dora Tanu, Rajan Brahma, Raj Subha, and Racho Ticho on March 31 in connection with case number 77/23 under sections 21(b), 27/27(A)/29 of the NDPS act.

“The Banderdewa police arrested one Binbi Ligo, Chimpu police arrested Jakla Boro and the Nirjuli police arrested John Tawe and Dependra Singh Shekawat with a huge cache of drugs in their possession,” he added.

Lauding the efforts of the police team under the Anti-Drugs Squad headed by Deputy SP K Dirchi, Chiram appealed to the people to share information about any illicit activities and issued a stern warning to drug peddlers.  

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