By Sujit Chakraborty
Agartala, Jan 3 (IANS): A huge haul of Yaba drugs worth Rs 8.53 crore destined for Bangladesh via Tripura has been seized on Friday from a hideout along the India-Bangladesh border, BSF official said.
Officials of Border Security Force (BSF) and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) accompanied by the para-military troopers seized around 1,68,500 Yaba tablets in two cartons from a house at border village Matinagar-Rayermura under western Tripura's Sepahijala district.
"Acting on a tip off, we along with the DRI officials cordoned off the house of one Ishan Bhuiyan at Matinagar-Rayermura village and later recovered the Yaba drugs contained in two cartons wrapped with black polythene," Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of BSF C.L. Belwa told IANS over phone from India-Bangladesh border.
He said that the drugs consignment valued at Rs 8.53 crore was about to ferry across the border and just before that the BSF and the DRI officials seized the drugs.
"The house owner Ishan Bhuiyan and his two associates Tunu Mia and Soyan Mia managed to escape before the BSF troopers and other officials reached the border village.
However, the DRI officials have launched a search operation to nab the smugglers," said Belwa, who is also the Public Relations Officer of the BSF.
Subsequently, two small cars were also seized from the house of Ishan bhuiyan, who has been involved for years in illegal trades between India and Bangladesh.
The Yaba tablets a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine, contained a dangerous chemical compound and use as a high dosage drugs by the people mostly youths in India, Bangladesh and other neighbouring countries.
According to the BSF and intelligence officials, the Yaba tablets and various other drugs including heroin and brown sugar are smuggling into northeastern states from neighbouring Myanmar and smuggle to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and different Indian states and other adjoining countries.
The police chiefs of eight northeastern states last month have decided to intensify their efforts to curb the drug menace as the region, bordering China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, have turned into a corridor for drug smuggling.
Senior IPS officer Rakesh Asthana, Director General of the Narcotics Control Bureau, presided over the meeting of the Director Generals of Police of eight northeastern states in Agartala.
Top officials of the BSF, Assam Rifles, Central Reserve Police Force, intelligence agencies and other law enforcing agencies also attended the meeting.
Four Indian northeastern states of Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Assam share an 1,880-km border with Bangladesh, while Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh share a 1,640-km unfenced border with Myanmar.
Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim also share 1080 km and 220.35 frontiers with China, respectively, while Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim have 267 km, 217 km and 32 km borders, respectively, with Bhutan. Sikkim has also 97.80 km borders with Nepal.