Malda district police arrested six persons from on Monday night with brown sugar (a derivative of heroin) worth around ₹1.5 crore on them.

Pradeep Kumar Yadav, the superintendent of police of Malda, confirmed the arrests from Brajavita village under the Gazole police station of the district.

Those arrested are Sanjay Mandal, Prashanta Mandal, Pranab Mandal, Paban Mandal, Dilip Mandal and Fulchand Mandal.

All six are allegedly manufacturers and peddlers of the drug.

“Most of them are residents of the Kaliachak police station area and were found to have connections with some others residing in Gazole,” said the Malda SP.

Police sources said that based on a tip-off, a search operation was conducted in the presence of an executive magistrate, which led to the recovery of 1.7 kilos of brown sugar along with some raw materials that were also believed to be narcotics.

The contraband was found concealed in polythene and plastic bags at the residence of Fulchand Mandal.

The police have also seized various items used in the processing of narcotics.

“There have been attempts to shift illegal narcotics production units from the Kaliachak area to Gazole and Pukhuria police station limits. The smugglers want to take advantage of similar geographical conditions, especially stretches of expansive mango orchards,”
Yadav added.

Cannabis haul

In Cooch Behar’s Mathabhanga, a team of the Nishiganj police outpost under the Mathabhanga police station seized 6.525 kilos of cannabis on Monday. However, no arrests were made in this connection.

Illegal firecrackers were seized by a team of the Sitalkuchi police station, sources said.