Sonamura, July 15:
In a significant anti-narcotics operation, police recovered a massive cache of ganja worth approximately ₹16 lakh from an underground hideout in the Induria area under Sonamura police station limits. One youth has been arrested in connection with the seizure.
Acting on a tip-off, a team from the Sonamura Police Station conducted a raid in the early hours of Tuesday. During the operation, the police discovered multiple tightly packed bundles of dry cannabis (ganja) buried beneath the ground near a private property.
The accused, a young man from the locality, was taken into custody on the spot. He is currently being interrogated for further details, including possible links to larger smuggling networks operating along the Indo-Bangladesh border. Authorities suspect the seized ganja was intended for cross-border trafficking.
Preliminary estimates put the market value of the seized contraband at over ₹16 lakh. Police sources confirmed that the ganja was stored in a concealed pit, covered with soil and vegetation to avoid detection.
“The successful operation is part of our intensified drive against drug smuggling in the border regions. We are tracking all leads to dismantle the entire network behind this illegal activity,” said a senior police officer overseeing the operation.
This latest bust adds to a growing list of drug-related arrests in the Sepahijala district, which has become a known transit point for narcotics in recent years. The police have vowed to continue their crackdown on drug smuggling with more coordinated surveillance and community cooperation.
A case has been registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, and the arrested individual will be produced before the court shortly.
