Tripura: International drug smuggler escapes from police custody

Dharmanagar: A man, arrested in connection with an NDPS case, escaped from police custody while he was undergoing interrogation at Kadamtala police station in North Tripura district on Tuesday.

According to the police, Faruk Ahmed (18), one of the two accused arrested with a huge haul of Yaba tablets, escaped from the police station through the window of the toilet.

On June 27, North Tripura district intelligence branch and Kadamtala police during a joint operation recovered a total of 4,400 Yaba tablets in 22 packets from Baragol area in Maheshpur Road whose market value is about Rs 22 lakh.

The arrested persons were identified as Faruk Ahmed Chowdhury (18) and Bishal Shabdakar (19), both residents under the Kadamtala police station. During interrogation, the police arrested another accused, Nazmul Haque (30), a resident of Ward 3 of Baghan village.

The accused were undergoing interrogation at Kadamtala police station after they were produced before the North Tripura district court with a prayer of three days’ custody, which was accepted.

However, Faruk Ahmed, the mastermind of the international drug smuggling racket, escaped from the police station on Tuesday.

The officer in-charge of Kadamtala police station, Krishnadhan Sarkar, said there was no toilet attached with the lockup. As a result, the prisoners had to go to the toilet outside.

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“Faruk went to the bathroom. Sentry Trikona Sinha found that Faruk did not come out even after spending a lot of time inside. When he opened the door, he saw that the drug smuggler had escaped,” the officer in-charge added.

He said that an alert has been issued and the police and TSR forces have started the search operation of the accused person. However, no trace of him has been found till the filing of this report. Meanwhile, Assam police have also been informed.