Police, the Border Security Force (BSF), and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) seized narcotics and cash worth over ₹1 crore from different locations and destroyed several illegal cannabis farms across Cooch Behar on Wednesday.
A police team raided the house of Swapan Mondal, a resident of Dhalaguri, a village in the Mathabhanga subdivision. They seized 9.8 kg raw opium gum from the house.
“Also, ₹33,44,760 was seized in cash from there. We have arrested Swapan Mondal and a case under the NDPS Act has been registered against him,” said Sandip Garai, the additional superintendent of police (Mathabhanga).
“Our officers will interrogate him to know from where he had obtained the suspected narcotic and the cash. We suspect he is associated with a drug smuggling racket,”
he added.
The cost of the seized opium gum in the clandestine market is ₹40 to 50 lakh, sources said.
In another incident, troops of the 78th battalion of the BSF of the Guwahati frontier, posted at Chitrakoot border outpost in Cooch Behar, conducted a joint operation with NCB and seized five quintals of cannabis. A person has been arrested in this connection.
Also, troops of the 162nd and 14th battalion of the central security force and the NCB raided some villages in Cooch Behar and destroyed illegal cannabis farms.
“Cannabis cultivation spread over an area of around five acres in villages like Salmara, Sarkarpara, Arjuntala, and Digaltari were chopped off and burnt during the drive,” said a source.
