Heroin worth Rs 70 lakh seized in Dibrugarh, one held

DIBRUGARH: In one of the biggest drug hauls in upper Assam , police seized 1.14 kg of heroin from Kalibari area of Dibrugarh town on Sunday. The estimated value of the seized contraband drugs is said to be around Rs 70 lakh. Cash amounting to Rs 19.55 lakh was also seized during the raid, police said.


The raid was carried out by a large police team led by Dibrugarh additional SP Dhruba Bora in Kailibari at 3am.

While police managed to lay hands on the drugs which were kept neatly packed in silver foils, the drug dealer and the owner of the house, identified as Raja Ali, managed to escape by jumping from the first floor of the building. Ali's wife Husna Begum was taken into custody by the police. A case has been registered against Ali and his wife at the Dibrugarh police station under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

"We have intensified our crackdown against narcotics drug trade. Today's seizure was one of the biggest such hauls in recent times. We are investigating the trail of the seized drugs. Unfortunately the kingpin of the racket managed to flee. He will be in our custody very soon along with several other drug peddlers," additional SP Dhruba Bora said.

Sources said that Raja Ali took over the business from the notorious drug lord Elahi Sheikh three years ago after the latter was arrested by the Dibrugarh Police in July 2016. Ali, who is a trusted henchman of Elahi, is said to be running the narcotics racket on behalf of his boss who is currently in jail.

Elahi, who started out as a small-time tailor in the Kalibari area of the town in the early 1970s, went on to become the biggest drug lord of upper Assam, amassing a huge fortune through his illegal narcotics trade. He is believed to be a close partner of Pakhi Miyan alias Hazi Samsul Haque, one of the biggest drug barons in the northeast.

Elahi, who is now in his early sixties, used to control the entire chain of operations from procurement and transport to distribution of drugs at various levels. He used to run his empire of cocaine, heroin and brown sugar from Panchali and Kalibari area, with the help of a close-knit distribution network consisting mostly of woman peddlers and school dropouts. If sources are to be believed, Elahi even after his arrest has been running his illicit racket from behind the bars with the aid of his trusted band of henchmen.