Guwahati, May 23: Assam Police foiled a drug peddling attempt in Cachar district on Friday, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced.

Police conducted an operation in the Cachar district, resulting in the seizure of narcotics valued at Rs 3.11 crore.

The operation against drugs was carried out by police on intelligence-backed information.

Taking to X, Sarma wrote, “Backed by intel, @cacharpolice carried out an operation near ISBT Silchar and apprehended a drug peddler with 622 gms heroin, valued at ₹3.11cr.”

“Our relentless #AssamAgainstDrugs effort will continue. Good job @assampolice”, he added.

Earlier on Thursday, drugs valued at over Rs 5.7 crores were seized by the security forces in Manipur and Mizoram. A defence spokesman said that Assam Rifles successfully apprehended a drug trafficker and seized a large amount of illegal narcotics from Manipur’s Noney district on Wednesday night.

The suspected drug peddler was moving in a truck from Imphal to Jiribam, along National Highway-37.

After receiving input from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence about the likely trafficking of narcotics, Assam Rifles personnel became vigilant and stopped a vehicle matching the description at a check post in Noney.

During the search operation, 569.24 grams of heroin and large quantities of amphetamine/methamphetamine tablets were recovered from the possession of the arrested drug peddler.

The drugs, the total value of which is Rs 5 crore, were contained in 50 cases of soap and 49 sachets.

In another incident, Border Security Force (BSF) personnel of the Mizoram and Cachar Frontier, based on specific input, conducted a search operation at Vairengte in Mizoram’s Kolasib district, along southern Assam, and seized 7.042 kg of pseudoephedrine tablets (a precursor chemical) valued at Rs 7.04 lakh.

One person was also arrested in connection with the drug seizure, a BSF spokesman said. Officials said that all the drugs were smuggled from neighbouring Myanmar.

New Delhi, May 23: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to examine a plea seeking a complete ban on “illegal” betting apps.

The petition also sought strict regulations on online gaming and fantasy sports, and the enactment of a comprehensive law.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N.K. Singh issued a notice to the Centre and sought its response, but refrained from issuing notices to the state governments at the present stage.

The petitioner, claiming himself “a prominent social activist, humanitarian, and President of Global Peace Initiative, which is dedicated to promoting peace and justice globally”, said the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the interest of millions of people and to protect the sanity and democracy in India by banning “illegal” betting apps.

The petition referred to an FIR registered in March this year in Telangana against 25 Bollywood celebrities, cricketers and influencers for misleading the public by promoting betting apps.

Further, it referred to a news article regarding the suicide of 24 people from Telangana after they were unable to pay debts incurred due to online betting.

It said that the petition was filed directly before the Supreme Court to safeguard Indian youth and vulnerable citizens from the perils of unregulated online betting and gambling, often disguised as fantasy sports and skill-based gaming.

The petitioner said the plea was filed in “the larger public interest to safeguard the youth of India from the unregulated, exploitative, and dangerous online betting industry operating under the garb of fantasy sports and skill-based gaming”.

“That betting, both online and offline, is inherently a game of chance, not a game of skill, and hence falls within the ambit of gambling, which is prohibited in many states under the Public Gambling Act, 1867,” said the petition, adding that there is no uniform central legislation to regulate online betting.

Further, the petitioner claimed that he is a globally recognised Peace Ambassador, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by many countries, including the US, Norway, Sudan and India, for stopping several major wars through his peace efforts and rescuing 310 orphans and street children around the world.

Mumbai, May 23: The Indian benchmark indices opened higher on Friday amid mixed global cues, as buying was seen in the FMCG, IT and auto sectors in the early trade.

At around 9.29 am, Sensex was trading 281.75 points or 0.35 per cent up at 81,233.74 while the Nifty added 109.75 point or 0.45 per cent at 24,719.45

Nifty Bank was up 69.85 points or 0.13 per cent at 55,011.15 The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 56,582.95 after adding 258.10 points or 0.46 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 17,561.40 after climbing 58.30 points or 0.33 per cent.

According to analysts, the silver lining from the market perspective is India’s strong macros, particularly the resilient growth and declining inflation and interest rates.

In the Sensex pack, ITC, Adani Ports, Infosys, PowerGrid, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, SBI, HCL Tech, UltraTech Cement, Tata Motors and Eternal were the top gainers. Whereas, Sun Pharma, M&M, NTPC, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki and ICICI Bank were the top losers.

In the Asian markets, China, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Seoul, Jakarta and Japan were trading in green.

In the last trading session, Dow Jones in the US closed at 41,859.09, down 1.35 points, or 0.00 per cent. The S&P 500 ended with a loss of 2.60 points, or 0.04 per cent, at 5,842.01 and the Nasdaq closed at 18,925.74, up 53.09 points, or 0.28 per cent.

“US stocks closed mixed on Thursday after a volatile session, with major indices erasing early losses as Treasury yields retreated from recent highs following the House passage of President Trump’s tax and spending legislation,” said experts.

On the institutional front, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers as they sold equities worth 5,045.36 crore on May 22, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased equities worth 3,715.00 crore.

“Even when the market turns weak, domestic demand driven segments like financials, telecom, aviation etc are resilient and this is reflected in the strength in the stock prices of the big boys in these segments like ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel and Interglobe Aviation. This message from the market is important,” said Dr VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Ltd.