Amid the War on Drugs, five commando police personnel were arrested and a huge amount of heroin powder and WY drugs worth Rs 3.35 crore was seized from their possession by a combined team of District Commando Kakching and Pallel police, on Imphal-Moreh road along National Highway-102 on Monday.
The seizure was made amid the state government's claim that several measures have been taken to completely root out drug menace from the state under its War on Drugs 2.0.
The seized drugs are reported to be worth around Rs 3,35,50,000 in total in the local market. The price is said to be 10 times higher in the international market.
The five commando personnel have been identified as one havildar Kh Achouba Singh of Manipur Police Training Centre (MPTC); rifleman Th Subhash Chothe of 7th MR; constable Y Dineshwar Meitei of Imphal West District; rifleman M Premchandra Singh of 6th MR and rifleman N Dorendrajit Singh of 6th MR.
All the five personnel are presently attached to the Commando Unit, Kakching. Achouba is the commander of the team.
A press note signed by Superintendent of Police, Kakching Shery Vats mentioned that 1.336 kg of heroin powder and 9.151 kg of Yaba drugs marked as ‘WY’ were seized around 7.30 am from a Maruti Gypsy of the team of commando unit Kakching which was posted in Moreh and now under order of posting to special commando unit, Khabeisoi, Imphal East.
The seizure was made by a combined team of officer-in-charge, commando unit, Kakching, Subedar S Birla Singh; Subedar Ksh Prakash Singh of CDO Unit, Kakching and SI K Mothilphun Dangsawa of Pallel Police Station under the supervision of additional superintendent of police (Ops), Kakching, Binoy Chongtham, additional superintendent of police (CPCR) attached with district police, A Romendro Singh, and under the overall Supervision of Shrey Vats, IPS, Superintendent of Police, Kakching.
It mentioned that the commando team, which was coming from Moreh, was detained near Kuraopokpi which is located near St Joseph English School along NH 102 (Imphal-Moreh). While searching the vehicle after observing legal formalities, as many as 100 soap cases containing suspected heroin powder and eight bundles of suspected WY tablets with each bundle containing approximately 10,000 tablets were detected.
The suspected heroin powder was found to weigh around 1.336 kg and the suspected WY tablets weighed around 9.151 kg. A cash amount of Rs 80,000 was also seized from Achouba who is the leader of the commando team.
They were arrested on the spot and the items seized and later handed over to Kakching police station for further action.
Meanwhile, officer-in-charge, special commando unit, Khabeisoi, Imphal East, L Bebekananda Singh issued a clarification that the team of commando personnel, including Achouba, who were arrested with huge amount of narcotic drugs is not related with the special commando unit, Khabeisoi.
Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Sunday posted photos on Facebook of the demonstration of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) which will be reportedly used for detection of poppy plantations in hilly areas.
He posted the photos of the demonstration with the caption, “Attended a demonstration of a UAV drone that will be used for geo-mapping purposes. The technology will assist the government in collecting location-based data from surveys, and use it for creating digital maps with the help of GPS. The trials will be done in selected districts soon.”
On Saturday, Biren also attended the flight tests and demonstration of drones at Chief Minister’s Secretariat, Babupara, Imphal West. Some photographs of the demonstration were also posted on Facebook with a caption which read, “Flight tests and demonstration of drones were successfully carried out on the lawn of my official residence today. These drones capable of spraying herbicides have been procured to intensify the state government’s War on Drugs campaign. I urge the people to extend more support and cooperation in our efforts to completely root out the drug menace from the state.”
