Two more key players in Tripura’s illegal drug trade arrested from Delhi, Kolkata

Agartala, Nov 3 Tripura Police Crime Branch has arrested two more main kingpins involved in the seizure of drugs worth Rs 5.4 crore recovered from a goods train arriving here from Delhi, officials said on Monday.

A senior police official said that in connection with the recovery of 1,07,800 bottles of banned ESkuf cough syrup from a goods train at Jirania railway station on October 17, the Anti-Narcotics Wing of the Tripura Police Crime Branch (TPCB) arrested Arun Kumar Ghosh (58) and Himanshu Jha alias Sonu (32) from Kolkata and Delhi respectively.

The official said that the duo will be brought to Agartala on Monday and Tuesday to produce them in a court here.

Transit legal formalities are now under process, he said.

With these three main drugs peddlers, all are big traders of Tripura, arrested so far in connection with the major drug haul from goods train.

On October 30, Rajib Dasgupta (42) was arrested by the TPCB and intensive searches were on to nab Ghosh and Jha. The official further said that, acting on specific Intelligence, a joint team of security forces searched the goods train at Jirania railway station and recovered the banned Eskuf cough syrup, which contains Codeine Phosphate and Triprolidine Hydrochloride substances often misused as narcotics in India, neighbouring Bangladesh, and other countries.

The estimated value of the seized drugs in the illegal market is around Rs 5.4 crore, the official added.

The joint operation, conducted by Tripura Police, Assam Rifles, Government Railway Police (GRP), Special Task Force (STF), and the Customs Department, is being described as one of the major successes in the state’s ongoing war against drug trafficking.

The goods train, carrying chicken feed, rice, and other items, had arrived at Jirania railway station from Delhi on October 16. The search operation began that night and continued into the early hours of October 17.

The illegal consignment was found unclaimed and concealed in two wagons alongside other cargo. The seized items have been handed over to the Customs Department for further investigation and legal action.

Police suspect that the banned Eskuf cough syrup was meant to be smuggled into Bangladesh through clandestine routes.

The Opposition CPI-M and the Congress have been organising statewide agitations against the transportation of drugs through goods trains from Delhi.

The youth wing of the Opposition Congress on Sunday launched a mass letter campaign to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, protesting against the transportation of narcotics in a Delhi-Tripura goods train. The Tripura Youth Congress plans to send over 10,000 such letters in the coming days.

Tripura Youth Congress President Neel Kamal Saha said that the initiative began centrally from Agartala on Sunday and would soon be expanded to all blocks and localities across the state.

“We have started sending mass letters to the Railway Minister from Agartala. Similar letters will be dispatched from each block and locality across the state in the next few days,” Saha had told the media.

In the letter, the Youth Congress alleged that certain leaders of the ruling BJP, in collusion with dishonest traders and drug peddlers, were attempting to turn Tripura into a drug-smuggling corridor, even using railway services for illegal activities.

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