The Cachar police in Assam have arrested three people on suspicion of smuggling 5,000 Yaba tablets from Mizoram to be distributed in the area.
Methamphetamine, a potent and addictive stimulant, and caffeine are the main ingredients of Yaba tablets, which are primarily produced in Southeast Asia. Yaba means insane in Thai.
According to Debabrata Phukan, the officer in charge of the Rangirkhari police outpost, the three individuals, who are Mizoram natives, were arrested on Sunday night in a Silchar hotel following a tip about some individuals peddling illegal drugs in the area.
“Our team followed the peddlers and caught them red-handed from a hotel in Silchar town. In the interrogation, they told us that they brought the tablets from Mizoram and they were supposed to supply them to some local buyers in Barak Valley,” Phukan said.
Police seized 5,000 pills stored in 50 containers at their request. Lalduhawma (36), Sawliana TC (34), and Sangtia were the three males (31). The other two dwell in Champhai district, 200 kilometres away from Lalduhawma, who lives in Mizoram’s Aizawl district.
On Monday in the Jabainpur region, the Border Security Force and Karimgang police also detained Juyel Namasudra and seized 20,000 Yaba tablets.
In addition to the Yaba pills, the Karimganj police in two operations on Monday recovered nearly 900kg of marijuana.
Superintendent of police of Karimganj district, Padmanabh Baruah said this was the third of such big catches in one month.
“We suspect that there are some cultivation in Tripura or these products are being transported from outside India. We are interrogating the arrested persons to get more information,” Baruah said.