Agartala, Oct 18: The Tripura Police, in coordination with intelligence agencies, have intensified their anti-narcotics operations over the past 10 days, leading to significant seizures of contraband substances across the state, Chief Minister Manik Saha said on Saturday.

Taking to various social media platforms, the Chief Minister Saha informed that during the past 10 days, the police recovered 896 kg of ganja (cannabis), 90,617 bottles of cough syrup, 180 highly addictive methamphetamine tablets, and 27.78 grams of heroin from different locations.

A total of 15 cases under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act 1985 have been registered, and 16 accused persons have been arrested in connection with the seizures of various drugs.

Saha, who also holds the home portfolio, said that the Tripura Police reaffirmed their commitment to make the state free from the menace of drugs and to bring all key players involved in the illicit trade under the purview of law.

The state government, following a policy of ‘zero tolerance’ towards drugs, has been working resolutely to secure a drug-free future for the youth of Tripura, he stated.

Meanwhile, various security forces, including Assam Rifles, have confiscated drugs worth over Rs 134.50 crore in Tripura in less than three weeks. On Friday (October 17), in a joint operation, security forces recovered drugs worth Rs 4.5 crore from a goods train stationed at the Jirania railway station in West Tripura district, arriving from Delhi.

A senior official said that the Tripura Police, Assam Rifles, Government Railway Police (GRP), Special Task Force (STF) and the Customs jointly conducted a thorough search of the goods train and recovered 90,000 bottles of banned Eskuf Cough Syrup, which contains Codeine Phosphate and Triprolidine Hydrochloride, substances commonly misused as narcotics in India and neighbouring Bangladesh.

Police have continued their search operations to trace the main accused responsible for transporting the banned Eskuf cough syrup by train from Delhi.

On October 6, in one of the major drug hauls, the Assam Rifles, in close coordination with Customs officials, seized contraband valued at Rs 70 crore in Tripura’s bordering Khowai district and arrested four drug peddlers.

Acting on secret inputs, the joint team of Assam Rifles and Customs officials intercepted two trucks carrying cement as cover cargo for narcotics trafficking and recovered 69.61 kg of highly addictive methamphetamine tablets valued at around Rs 70 crore.

A Defence spokesperson had said that the October 6 operation was a follow-up to a successful operation conducted on September 29 in the bordering Mohanpur area of West Tripura district. The September 29 operation led to the recovery of 60.77 kg of banned methamphetamine tablets worth Rs 60 crore.

A senior police official said that the drugs seized on September 29 and October 6 might have been smuggled from Myanmar and transported through Mizoram and southern Assam to Tripura, from where they were intended to be smuggled into neighbouring Bangladesh.

Tripura, which shares an 856-km border with Bangladesh, is surrounded on three sides by the neighbouring country, making the northeastern state vulnerable to cross-border migration, crimes, illegal trade and smuggling. Except for some patches, most parts of the frontier have been fenced to prevent smuggling, trans-border crimes and illegal infiltration.

Mumbai: The Mumbai Crime Branch have arrested a 60-year-old man from the Versova area of Mumbai for allegedly possessing fake identity documents linked to the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).

The man, identified as Akhtar Hussaini, held BARC identity cards, forged documents, and several suspicious papers.

During the search, authorities recovered counterfeit BARC identity cards, forged documents, and several suspicious papers from Hussaini’s possession.

According to the Mumbai Crime Branch, the fraudster is currently in custody and being interrogated to ascertain the motive behind creating the fake documents.

Further investigation is underway to determine if any larger network or criminal activity is involved.

A day earlier in another case, the Cyber Cell of the Delhi Crime Branch successfully executed a targeted operation, resulting in the arrest of 12 cybercriminals and the dismantling of well-organised cyber scam syndicates operating across multiple states.

The operation was carried out under the supervision of ACP Anil Sharma, comprising teams led by Inspector Sandeep Singh, Inspector Ashok Kumar, Inspector Shivram, and Inspector Subash.

In the first operation, the Cyber Cell, Crime Branch, Delhi, successfully arrested three accused persons and dismantled a digital arrest fraud module operating from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, police said.

The case FIR dated July 5, under sections 308/318(4)/319/340 BNS, PS Cyber South, Delhi, was registered for cheating to the tune of Rs 42.49 lakh through an elaborate digital arrest scam.

The fraudsters, posing as police officials, falsely accused the elderly victim of involvement in a money laundering case and, through fear and psychological manipulation, induced him to transfer money into multiple mule accounts traced to Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the release said.

Mumbai: In a major success ahead of the festive season, the Mumbai Police recovered 1,464 stolen and lost mobile phones worth over Rs 3.22 crore from various parts of the city and returned them to their rightful owners on Thursday, October 16. The large-scale recovery drive was a coordinated effort by Zones 3, 4, and 5 of the Mumbai Police, supported by CEIR (Central Equipment Identity Register) portal operators, cyber officers and crime detection teams.

A video of the special program organised to return the stolen phones has gone viral on the internet. According to officials, Zone 3 recovered 356 phones, including 62 from Tardeo, 80 from Nagpada, 48 from Agripada, 61 from Byculla, 55 from Worli, and 50 from N.M. Joshi Marg police stations.

Zone 4 accounted for 448 phones, traced from stations such as Bhoiwada (72), Kalachowki (48), Matunga (79), R.A.K. Marg (58), Sion (69), Antop Hill (61), and Wadala T.T. (61). The highest recovery came from Zone 5, which retrieved 660 phones from Dadar (138), Shivaji Park (113), Mahim (88), Shahunagar (70), Dharavi (97), Kurla (108) and V.B.A. Nagar (46).

In addition to the phones, valuables such as gold, silver, and other ornaments worth Rs 21.87 lakh were also returned to citizens. The handover ceremony was held under the guidance of the Additional Commissioner of Police, Central Regional Division, and attended by DCPs from Zones 3, 4 and 5.

Meanwhile, earlier this week, Mumbai Police’s DCP Zone 12 had also returned valuables worth Rs 3.89 crore to citizens as part of a similar initiative. “A special Diwali return gift!” the police wrote in a post on X, announcing the recovery of 2.25 kg of gold jewelry, 2 buses, 7 auto-rickshaws, 13 motorcycles, 4 laptops, and 689 mobile phones. The operation covered multiple police stations, including Dahisar, Kasturba Marg, Samta Nagar, Kurar, Dindoshi, Vanrai and Aarey.