Three persons, including a woman, were arrested after over 100 kilos of cannabis was seized from their vehicle in Jalpaiguri on Saturday.
Police sources said a team intercepted the vehicle in the Vivekanandapally area on NH27 near the Teesta bridge. During the search, they found the narcotic packed in cartons. Altogether, 108 kilos of cannabis was seized.
The cost of the seized narcotics is estimated to be over Rs 5 lakh, the sources said.
Those arrested have been identified as Reshma Debnath, Uttam Das and Tapan Paul, all residents of Tripura.
In another incident, troops of the 176 battalion of the Border Security Force (BSF) posted at the India-Bangladesh border in Darjeeling district on Saturday apprehended a person while he was trying to cross the international border to allegedly smuggle cough syrup bottles to the neighbouring country.
The arrested Md. Jaffer Ali is a resident of Chitagach village in Jalpaiguri district. He was later handed over to the police.
The BSF also carried out raids in different locations near the Indo-Bangla border on Friday night and seized a number of contraband items, including cattle and cough syrup bottles.
The cost of the seized items is around Rs 85,000, the BSF sources said.
Alipurduar celebrates its eighth anniversary
Anirban Choudhury
Alipurduar district, that emerged as a new district in 2014, celebrated its eighth anniversary on Saturday.
In 2014, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had announced that Alipurduar, which was earlier a sub-division in Jalpaiguri district, will emerge as a new district.
On this occasion, Dooars Kanya, the district collectorate, was decorated with colourful lights (in picture).
Surendra Kuman Meena, the district magistrate, cut a cake with some others, including elected representatives. Also, members of the Alipurduar Byabsayee Samiti distributed “laddu” (sweets) among the people across the Alipurduar town.
A number of cultural events were organised in different locations of the town and in other parts of the district.
Anirban Choudhury
