DRI seizes 231.8 kg methamphetamine from Assam Tripura
In one of the largest methamphetamine hauls in the North-East this year, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) dismantled a multi-State smuggling syndicate on Tuesday, seizing 231.8 kg of suspected methamphetamine tablets from four trucks intercepted across Assam and Tripura.
Authorities arrested three men and took all four vehicles into custody under the NDPS Act. The intelligence-led operation, supported by the Assam Rifles, targeted a network moving large consignments of pinkish-orangish tablets, widely known in the region as yaba, hidden in the roofs of drivers’ cabins. Officials put the illicit street value of the seizure in the range of several hundred crore rupees.
The first strike came at Ramnathpur in Hailakandi district, about 100 km from Silchar. Acting on specific inputs, DRI officers, assisted by the 38 Battalion of Assam Rifles, stopped a suspect truck. A search of the cabin roof yielded 275 packets weighing 55 kg. Officers found a second truck from the same syndicate nearby. Neither its driver nor the handyman was present. Officers recovered another 271 packets weighing 54.2 kg, also packed into the roof cavity. Together, the two recoveries accounted for 109.2 kg.
Police arrested one person on the spot and seized both trucks. At almost the same time, a goods carrier declared to be carrying cement was intercepted at Teliamura, about 45 km from Agartala, while travelling from Khowai. The 28 Battalion of Assam Rifles assisted the DRI team. Examination of the driver’s cabin roof produced 295 plastic packets containing 72.6 kg of similarly coloured tablets. Officers arrested the driver and seized the vehicle.
Further intelligence generated during the raids led officers to a fourth truck near Panisagar in North Tripura. A search recovered 50 kg of suspected methamphetamine tablets, again concealed in the vehicle. Police arrested the driver and seized the truck. The coordinated action netted 231.8 kg of tablets in a single day and cut a major artery of the syndicate’s transport chain. Investigators said the concealment method- specially prepared roof cavities in ordinary-looking commercial trucks- was designed to defeat routine checks along the Silchar-Agartala corridor.
The Tuesday haul follows a similar pattern recorded last month. In August, DRI teams operating near Silchar and in Mizoram seized 76 kg of methamphetamine tablets hidden in fabricated cavities in vehicles. Officials treat the two episodes as part of the same pressure campaign against synthetic-drug pipelines feeding off the Myanmar border and using Assam and Tripura as transit belts towards the rest of India and, in some cases, Bangladesh.
Methamphetamine tablets remain among the most profitable contraband moving through the North-East.
Their compact size, high street price and demand in urban markets make them attractive to organised groups that hire drivers, modify trucks and switch routes at short notice. DRI officers said the latest interceptions show the syndicate was moving multiple consignments in parallel rather than relying on a single vehicle. Cases have been registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
The arrested drivers are expected to be produced in court, and remand will be sought to trace consignors, financiers and the origin of the tablets. Forensic confirmation of the seized material is under way. For enforcement agencies in the region, the operation is being read as proof that simultaneous watches at several points can still catch a network that splits loads to reduce risk. Four trucks, three arrests and nearly 232 kg of tablets in one coordinated sweep have, at least for now, taken a large commercial quantity off the road. Investigators are now trying to determine whether the syndicate has other vehicles already in motion.
