Tripura: 373 smugglers held, drugs worth Rs 70 crore seized in five months, say Police

In a significant stride towards combating drug abuse, the Tripura Police has made remarkable progress under the "Nasha Mukt Tripura" campaign from January to May this year.

As per police, more than 373 drug smugglers and peddlers have been apprehended, while contraband items worth Rs 70 crores have been seized.

Addressing the issue, Director General of Police, Amitabh Ranjan, emphasized the relentless efforts undertaken by the Tripura Police to eliminate the drug menace from the state. 

He also revealed that during 2023, a total of 245 cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act have been registered, leading to the arrest of over 373 individuals as of May. 

Moreover, narcotic items valued at more than Rs 70 crore have been confiscated, and an additional Rs 12.5 crore worth of illicit substances have been destroyed.

Highlighting the strategies the top cop said they have intensified synergy checking at Naka points on Nation Highway, State Highway, and arterial roads is being done on a regular basis to check drug trafficking. 

“Intensive operations and frequent raids are being carried out at suspected places. Surprise special drives for seizure and destruction of cannabis are also being done. As per central agencies data, Tripura figure in the 2 largest seizures in the North East and the highest destruction of narcotics items”, he said.

He further said that the Government of India has also adopted a vision for a "Drug-Free India" and "Nasha Mukt Bharat Pakhwada" from 12th June to 26th June 2023. 
With this aim, Tripura Police is relentlessly pursuing every lead and hint to reach the drug dealers and their associates for destroying their network across the country. 

“It has greatly intensified its efforts to dismantle the supply chain network by establishing a robust intelligence setup, with coordinated and targeted efforts by involving sister agencies like NCB, ED, BSF, DRI, etc., and also by applying advanced scientific techniques. The positive result in curbing drug abuse is very much evident in the seizure data pertaining to illicit drugs of the last year”, said DGP Ranjan.

In the last year, Tripura Police seized 79,378 kgs of Cannabis, codeine-based cough syrup- 1,73,375 bottles, 2,20,212 tablets, 7.075 kgs of heroin and destroyed 42,38,918 ganja plantations. 

“During this year from January 2023 to May 2023, the results are even more encouraging. In a short span of five months, Tripura Police has registered 245 cases and seized 24,332 kg of Cannabis, 50,954 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup, 1,43,439 nos of Tablets, and 10.782 kg of Heroin”, said the top cop.

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