Heroin worth over Rs 25 crore seized in Bengal, one held

KOLKATA: The Special Task Force (STF) of the Kolkata Police has seized over five kg of heroin, worth Rs 25.09 crore in the international market, from West Bengal's Purba Bardhaman district and arrested a person in this connection, a senior officer said on Tuesday.

Acting on a tip-off, the STF sleuths conducted a search operation at Rasulpur Bazar in Memari on Monday night and recovered the contraband from the drug peddler's vehicle, he said.

"We had information about the person that he would come to deliver the drugs to an agent. We recovered 5.08 kg of heroin from his possession and seized his vehicle," the officer said.

A case has been registered against the accused under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, he said.

The person is being interrogated to ascertain whether he has any link to the two BJP leaders who were recently arrested in a drug seizure case, a source in the Kolkata Police said.

The police had arrested BJP youth wing leader Pamela Goswami and two of her associates after 90 gm of cocaine was allegedly found in her handbag and concealed in the car they were travelling.

Following Goswami's accusation that she was "framed" by her party colleague and BJP state committee member Rakesh Singh, the Kolkata Police nabbed him and another person from Galsi in Purba Barddhaman district while they were trying to escape.