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Brown sugar worth Rs 100 crore seized in Thoubal

IMPHAL: In what is the biggest ever seizure of drugs in the history of Manipur , police on Saturday recovered 100 kg of brown sugar worth around Rs 100 crore from Lilong in Thoubal district .


Acting on a tip-off, a team of Narcotics and Affairs of Border (NAB), a unit of Manipur police department and Thoubal district police busted an illegal brown sugar factory which was housed at the residence of one Md Matalip at the Lilong dam area.



Anjuman, a civil body set up by local residents, assisted the team in its operation which took place at around 4am on Saturday.

Besides the drugs, a large number of materials that was purportedly being used for manufacturing brown sugar, such as chemicals, equipment and tools, lime, iron plates, huge pots , huge plastic bin, rubber hand gloves, LPG gas cylinder and white clothes, were also seized.

The joint team, led by NAB additional SP Th Brinda , the unit's officer-in-charge B Rishikesh Sharma and additional SP ( Thoubal) S Sachidananda, seized the brown sugar weighing 111.91 Kg from the spot.

The cops arrested Matalip, his wife Samim Pusam (35) and Md Serajuddin (29) of Lilong Kaleikhong area, NAB SP W Basu Singh told reporters later.

"This is the biggest seizure of drugs in the history of Manipur. We have registered a case and started our investigation," he added.

In another unrelated operation, a NAB team confiscated 5.46 kg of opium from three individuals - Paosienlal Tungdim (32), Mangnu Tungdim (55) and Aaron Nangsha (37), all from Chandel district - at Hongkong Veng in the district at around 4.35pm on Friday, the NAB SP added.

The huge seizure came at a time when different state and central security agencies as well as anti-drug organizations have stepped up the initiative to seize drugs and destroy illegal poppy cultivation at various parts of the state.

The BJP-led government in the state has destroyed over 2,000 acres of illegal poppy cultivation across the state through collective efforts of police, security forces and anti-drug bodies.

The government has also begun providing the poppy growers alternative means of livelihood such as cultivation of Agarwood, lemongrass and avocado.

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