Guwahati: The Assam Police on Tuesday arrested four notorious drug dealers in Assam’s Golaghat district and seized heroin worth approximately Rs one crore in the international market from their possession.
Based on a tip-off, a team from the Golaghat police station led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Madhurjya Bora intercepted a Bolero pick-up vehicle, bearing the registration number AS03-CC-1987, at Padumani Tiniali area of the district.
During a thorough search of the vehicle, 343 grams of heroin, packed in 26 plastic soap cases, were recovered from the secret chambers of the vehicle.
The arrested drug dealers have been identified as Imtiaz Ahmed, Sazidur Rahman, Hasim Ali, and Atik Rahman. The police team also seized four mobile phone handsets from their possession.
The accused, hailing from Golaghat town and the district’s Merapani village, were reportedly transporting the shipment from Nagaland’s Dimapur to Dergaon in Golaghat district.
“We had information about a shipment of narcotics and based on it, we intercepted the vehicle. During the search, we recovered 343 grams of heroin in 26 soap cases. We are continuing to search for the secret chambers and cavities of the vehicle to find out if anything more is found. We have arrested four people in connection with the case. They were part of a very big racket,” said Bora.
Heroin is an opioid used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. It is typically injected, usually into a vein, but it can also be smoked, snorted, or inhaled. The onset of effects is almost instant and lasts for a few hours.
As of 2015, an estimated 17 million people use opiates, of which heroin is the most common. Opioid use has resulted in 122,000 deaths. The total number of heroin users worldwide (as of 2015), is believed to have increased in Africa, the Americas, and Asia since 2000.
In the United States, approximately 1.6 per cent of people have used heroin at some point, with 950,000 using it in 2021. Most drug overdose deaths are opioid-related, with heroin overdose being the most common.
About 448 tons of heroin were manufactured in 2016. In 2015, Afghanistan produced about 66 per cent of the world’s opium. Illegal heroin is often mixed with other substances such as sugar, starch, caffeine, quinine, or other opioids like fentanyl.
Despite the BJP-led Assam government’s active war on drugs to free the state from its menace, the smuggling of narcotics continues unabated.
While addressing the State Assembly on March 14 this year, Assam Governor, Jagdish Mukhi informed that at total of 4,052 people have been arrested, and as many as 2,363 cases were registered in the state in less than 10 months for their alleged involvement in drug trafficking and narcotics worth Rs 427 crore have been seized. The seizures include 72.2 kg heroin.
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