Siliguri, June 11 -- Siliguri continues to emerge as a key corridor for drug trafficking, with the city witnessing a sharp increase in illegal drug movement and rising drug addiction among its residents. Despite ongoing efforts by the Siliguri Metropolitan Police to curb this menace, the smuggling of narcotics through the region remains a growing concern.
In a major crackdown over the past six months, the Siliguri Metropolitan Police have seized drugs valued at approximately Rs 20 crore and arrested 105 individuals from various locations under the jurisdiction of Siliguri Police Commissionerate.
Along with this, police have recovered 15 pistols and ammunition from different areas in the last six months. Biswa Chand Thakur, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), told Millennium Post: "Traffickers are increasingly using Siliguri as a transit point for drug smuggling. Alarmingly, women, particularly from border areas, are being lured into working as carriers for small sums of money. We have been conducting continuous drives against this illegal activity and these operations will persist."
According to police data, in the last six months, they have seized 500 kilograms of cannabis, 20 kilograms of brown sugar, 5 kilograms of opium and over five lakh illegal drug tablets from various parts of the city. A significant haul of raw materials used for manufacturing brown sugar was also recovered from a bungalow within a well-known township in Siliguri.
Sources indicate that most of the seized brown sugar and cannabis were trafficked from Sikkim, Bihar, Malda, Nepal, Assam and nearby hill regions. A large number of the arrested traffickers reportedly hail from Sikkim, Bihar and Malda. The rising trend of drug addiction among the youth and women in Siliguri is another emerging challenge.
Police have recently arrested several women from areas near Naxalbari, Khoribari, Matigara, New Jalpaiguri who were caught carrying narcotics.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.