Women used as drug carriers: Police foil smuggling operations in Siliguri

Siliguri: Police and Special Operation Group (SOG) have foiled a drug trafficking plan that involved women as carriers to evade detection. Six individuals, including three women, were arrested in two separate operations and brown sugar worth

Rs 1.5 crore was seized.

The arrests have raised concerns within the police administration about the increasing use of women in drug trafficking networks. Addressing the issue, Rakesh Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), said: “There was a plan to smuggle drugs via Siliguri. We are investigating how to break the smuggling network.”

In an operation, the SOG and Bagdogra police arrested two women on the national highway near Bagdogra Airport on Thursday night with 902 grams of brown sugar valued at Rs 1 crore.The women, identified as Shahina Begum and Gulabsana Khatun, residents of the Matigara area, were allegedly smuggling the drugs from Nalagola in Malda to Siliguri. On a separate raid conducted on the same night, the SOG and NJP police apprehended four individuals in Porajhar area with 600 grams of brown sugar valued at Rs 50 lakh in the market.

The arrested include Sayem Sheikh, Anwar Sheikh and Subhash Barman from Malda, who were allegedly transporting the drugs to Cooch Behar via Siliguri. During a handover attempt to a carrier named Sumitra Barman, a resident of Cooch Behar, the police caught the smugglers red-handed.

On the other hand, on Thursday night, the police arrested two men with firearms in two different cases. Khalpara Police Outpost arrested Binod Sahani from Ganga Nagar area with a one shutter pistol and two rounds of ammunition, while Ashighar Outpost police arrested Bittu Das with a pistol and one round of ammunition from Majhabari area.

All the accused were produced in court on Friday.