Tripura cop, kin held for drug smuggling
Agartala: A Tripura police officer and his sister-in-law were arrested for their alleged involvement in drug smuggling, police said here on Wednesday.
Cash amounting to Rs 10 lakh was recovered from the house of Sub-Inspector Sushil Debbarma, posted in the Special Branch.
With the arrest of Debbarma, so far 16 policemen including a Deputy Superintendent of Police and several Sub-Inspectors and Assistant Sub-Inspectors of Police have been either arrested or suspended from service for their reported involvement in the drug trade.
“Acting on a tip, a police team led by Inspector Subrata Chakraborty raided the houses of Sushil Debbarma and his sister-in-law Madhuri Debbarma on Tuesday night. Rs 10 lakh and some valuables were recovered from the house of the police officer,” a police official said.
He said that the duo along with Madhuri’s sister Laxmi Debbarma were reportedly involved in drug smuggling. Laxmi is absconding and the police is looking for her.
“During interrogation, Madhuri admitted that she, along with her sisters, was involved in the smuggling of drugs. She said that the money earned from the illegal trade was kept in her brother-in-law’s house here,” the official added.
According to the police, they were arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
After coming to power, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government headed by Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb launched a crusade against the drug menace in Tripura.
An official of the Home Department said that following the directions of Deb, who also holds the home portfolio, the security agencies comprising state and central para-military forces, along with the district administrations, launched a war against the cultivation, trade and smuggling of drugs, especially cannabis.
“Various security agencies in the last nine months have seized huge quantities of numerous drugs valued at over Rs 40 crore,” the official added.
He said: “Different security agencies in the past nine months have seized 65,000 kg of dry cannabis (ganja), over two crore ganja plants, one lakh bottles of various types of cough syrups (that serve as intoxicants), 1.65 lakh habit-forming tablets, 2,626 grams of brown sugar and heroin in Tripura.”
Deb, who pledged to make Tripura a “drug-free state”, said here on Tuesday that during the short period of nine months, over 200 people who were involved in the drug trade had been jailed.
“As drug related activities were reduced, 40 per cent atrocities on women and 10 per cent incidents of rape of young girls have decreased,” the Chief Minister said while addressing a function here on Tuesday.
