An additional district judge’s court in Krishnanagar on Friday sentenced nine individuals to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for trafficking contraband drugs, including heroin.

Each convict, associated with an interstate narcotics smuggling racket, has also been fined ₹1 lakh.

On May 15, 2022, a team from the Special Task Force (STF) of Bengal, Anti-Narcotics Force, conducted a raid in Bamandanga, under Nakashipara police station limits
in Nadia.

Officers intercepted four vehicles, including a container truck from Uttar Pradesh. In all, 49kg of heroin and 387kg of acetic anhydride, a chemical reagent, estimated to be worth around ₹100 crore,were seized.

The nine individuals aboard the vehicles — Beltu Mondal, Tausik Ahmed Halsona, Md Sawan, Nazrul Islam Mallick, Pritam Ghosh, Dipu Durlabh, Rahul Das, Asif Ali and Kalu Mallick —
were arrested.

A case was filed based on a complaint lodged by STF sub-inspector Subhamay Ghosh under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.

Public prosecutor Subedi Sanyal said all nine FIR-named accused had been found guilty under the
NDPS Act.

Sanyal stated: “The trial was conducted before the learned additional district judge’s first court in Krishnanagar. Witness testimonies were examined, and after the completion of proceedings, all FIR-named accused were found guilty under relevant sections of the NDPS Act.”

An STF officer said the nine were part of an interstate narcotics smuggling racket involved in procuring, transporting and selling contraband across multiple states.