A 25-year-old man identified as Dangshua Mulji hailed from Manipur was arrested on Sunday night in Tripura’s Khowai with arms while attempting to smuggle the consignment into Bangladesh.
According to Tripura Police, officials of Customs Division, Agartala had an intelligence input that Mulji allegedly linked to a trans-border syndicate involved in arms and narcotics smuggling, was traveling on the Guwahati-Agartala Special train from Lumding with illegal arms and ammunition.
“Customs officials were monitoring his movement as soon as he boarded the train at Lumding and alerted Railway police to keep a tab on him until he deboarded. He was deboarded at Teliamura station about 45 kilometres before Agartala and proceeded to western bordering town Khowai in the evening and he was under close surveillance of intelligence sleuth,” police said here on Monday.
The Divisional Preventive Force of Customs led by its Deputy Commissioner successfully intercepted him near border pillar no-1963/11S at Singicherra in Khowai while attempting to smuggle out the arms and ammunition to his Bangladesh counterpart in India-Bangladesh border.
Dangshua was caught red-handed with four (.32mm) Pistols made in Russia, USA, and India, 150 bullets (.32mm), and 5 magazines. Thereafter, he was handed over to the police, and a case was registered under the provisions of the Customs Act 1962. Police presented him before Chief Judicial Magistrate, Khowai, who has remanded him to judicial custody.
The initial investigation revealed that a smuggling network of arms, ammunition, and narcotic drugs has been operating across Myanmar, Northeast India, and Bangladesh after COVID situation. The contraband consignments have been assembled in Myanmar and en route to Bangladesh, Nepal, and Central India through Dimapur and Lumding.
“The smugglers have a base in every state of Northeast, which we are dismantling,” a senior police officer said, adding that Ministry of Home Affairs has devised a strong mechanism for coordination of police forces in Northeast, a real-time information sharing system, and surveillance tactics besides, inter-coordination among security forces to fight against the menace of drugs and arms.
