A CORRESPONDENT
BOKAJAN: In its continued drive against smuggled goods, police in Karbi Anglong seized 40.32 quintals of Burmese areca nuts and 320 kg of dry poppy at National Highway (NH) 39 in Khatkhati near SBI branch in the wee hours of Tuesday. The consignment of dry areca nuts was kept in 30 jute sacks and 25 cartons while the consignment of dry poppy was kept concealed in 16 cartons covered by 318 bags of ginger in the vehicle.
“Based on specific information, a truck bearing registration number WB 23D 4159 was intercepted on the National Highway 39 at Khatkhati. The truck was carrying a huge consignment of areca nuts from Manipur,” said a senior police official.
“The vehicle was searched by our police team but could not complete due to insufficient light and was kept at the police station campus. After sunrise, a thorough search was conducted and the police team recovered a total of 30 jute sacks of dry areca nuts, 25 cartons of dry areca nuts weighing a total of 4032 kg and 16 cartons of dry poppy weighting 320 kg covered by 318 bags of ginger from the vehicle,” the official said.
“The driver of the vehicle failed to produce any documents of the Areca nuts and poppy seeds. However, he produced one GST logistics challan against 350 bags of ginger,” he said. The police arrested the driver identified as Umesh Rat, son of Jugal Kishur Ray of Khirkiya under Dharni police station in Chapra district of Bihar.
“In course of inquiry it came to light that the dry areca nuts, poppy seeds and ginger all were loaded from Imphal and heading towards Siliguri,” the official said. The smuggling of narcotics, drugs and other smuggled goods has been continuing through this inter-state border as the police seized drugs worth Rs 15 crore on Monday.
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