Monday, November 12, 2012

Huge haul of banned drugs

Pseudoephedrine bound for Myanmar

The pseudoephedrine tablets that were seized from a godown in Guwahati on Sunday. Picture by UB Photos

Guwahati, Nov 13 : A huge quantity of pseudoephedrine meant to be smuggled into Myanmar and estimated to be worth over Rs 1.2 crore was seized and two persons were arrested in this connection by Customs officials yesterday.
Acting on a tip-off, the anti-smuggling unit of the Guwahati customs division seized 1,00,17,000 tablets and 101.56 kg of powdered pseudoephedrine from a private godown at the Pub Boragaon area of the city, an official source today said.
Pseudoephedrine is a precursor chemical used for manufacturing party drugs such as Speed, Ecstasy and Ice. It is used for treating nasal and sinus congestion and was declared as a controlled substance under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Regulation of Controlled Substances) Order, 1993.
“Preliminary investigation has revealed that these drugs — packed in 58 cartons — were sent from Delhi to Guwahati through a private transport company. From here it would have been sent to Mizoram and then smuggled into Myanmar where several illegal factories for producing party drugs are located,” the source said.
“So far, two persons have been arrested and one truck has been seized in this connection,” he added.
Two persons — Raju Sen, 28, and Lalthanpuia, 38 have been arrested for their involvement. “They would have transported the drugs from Guwahati to Mizoram. They could not produce any of the documents required for transportation of pseudoephedrine,” the source said.
A case has been registered against them under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.
The accused duo was produced in the court of chief judicial magistrate, Kamrup, here today and remanded to judicial custody.
“It appears that a huge interstate racket is involved in smuggling tablets containing pseudoephedrine from India to Myanmar and more arrests are likely to be made in this case,” he said.

No comments:

Post a Comment