Agartala: Nov 09: The Railway Protection Force on Wednesday arrested a man while he was allegedly trying to send over 300 kg of cannabis to the New Jalpaiguri railway station in West Bengal from the Agartala station.
The arrested person was identified as Uttam Kumar Paul from the Baishnabtilla area of West Tripura district. He was produced before a local court on Thursday.
“We found a person standing with six large cartons outside the railway parcel office. Upon enquiry, he claimed the cartons contained mixer grinders and filter boxes. We opened the cartons and found cannabis was concealed inside the filter boxes and mixer grinders. In total, 319 kg of cannabis was recovered. We have arrested the person and further interrogation is going on. The train was Kanchanjungha Express,” a police officer said, adding that it was a joint operation carried out by the police and the RPF on the basis of a tip-off that processed cannabis was being sent outside Tripura along with household appliances.
The officer also said the preliminary investigation suggested there are a few more people involved in the cannabis smuggling racket.
Tripura has an 856 km international border with Bangladesh, parts of which are still unfenced owing to local disputes. The government had earlier said that the state was being used as a corridor for illegal drugs trade.
