594 kg cannabis seized at Assam-Tripura border

A speeding car that attempted to enter Assam from Tripura by evading the checkpoint at the state boundary was intercepted by the Assam Police with a huge quantity of contrabands, officials said on Thursday.

At the Churaibari checkpoint, where the incident occurred, police on Wednesday night were inspecting vehicles coming from Tripura and heading toward Uttar Pradesh.

The vehicle lost control and toppled after it tried to hurriedly cross the interstate border.

The police seized at least 594 kg of cannabis from it. However, no arrests happened as the peddlers managed to escape, police said.

"Earlier, they (smugglers) would move cannabis in public transportation with the barest of security, but this time they have built secret cells like drug dealers do,” said Partha Pratim Das, the Superintendent of Police in Karimganj.

The police cut the secret chambers and seized 58 packets of contrabands.

Das claimed that the stringent measures against drugs that the governments of Assam and Tripura have adopted have made smugglers afraid.

"In addition to the Assam government's ongoing efforts, Tripura has tightened activities, which has led to smugglers using new tactics. But typically, whenever they make an attempt, we receive information,” he stated, adding that the traffickers have been located and are being sought for arrest.

Cannabis from Tripura is being carried to states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra, said a senior Assam Police official.

“In those markets, they fetch higher prices,” the officer said.

Meanwhile, the Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma lauded the efforts and wrote on Twitter,

“Karimganj Police intercepted a vehicle coming from a neighbouring state at the Churaibari check post and seized 58 packets of Ganja, weighing 594kg, hidden in a secret chamber of the vehicle. Great work Assam Police.”