West Bengal: Rs 1.4 crore of 'drugs money' seized from fish trader

MALDA: A fish trader was arrested from Malda's Gazole on Sunday after the CID found nearly Rs 1.4 crore from his home. The cops suspect the cash seized from 42-year-old Jayprakash Saha was proceeds from a cross-border drugs trade.
The arrest left the entire locality, including Saha's immediate neighbours, completely surprised. There was nothing in his lifestyle that even hinted at opulence, they said.
Around 10.30am, when a 10-member team of plainclothes CID officers turned up at Saha's nondescript home, everyone was taken by surprise. Saha, who keeps a low profile, trades in fish by leasing ponds in the locality.
As the officers stepped inside the house to conduct the search, Saha and his wife, Chanda Rani, were detained and the doors locked.
According to CID sources, the cash - mostly in 500- and 2,000-rupee denominations - were found stashed inside a box bed.
Cash came from cough syrup smuggling: Cops
Fish trader Jayprakash Saha's neighbours only got an inkling of what was happening behind closed doors when bank officials stepped inside, with a cash-counting machine.
Till evening, the total amount of cash seized was Rs 1,39,03,000. Aneesh Sarkar, CID special superintendent (special crime), said: "We had specific information in connection with a narcotics case that a huge amount of cash was stacked here. We raided and recovered over Rs 1 crore 39 lakh. This money may be proceeds from selling banned cough syrup Phensedyl."
Saha's neighbours were completely surprised. Bikash Saha and Joyram Sarkar claimed the trader was not well off. He even had to sell some of his land a few months back to pay off his debts, they said.
Sources claimed the money seized may be linked to Saha's brother-in-law Om Gupta, a resident of South Dinajpur's Gangarampur. The Narcotics Control Bureau had arrested Gupta three months back from his Nayabazar home in Gangarampur. NCB had also seized Phensedyl and cash from his godown. He is believed to be involved in cross-border smuggling of Phensedyl and other drugs. Gupta is still in a prison in Balurghat, where he was recently questioned by the cops.
Sources claimed he had told the cops that the cash he got by smuggling was kept at his sister's home in Malda.
CID officers were, however, reluctant to speak about Gupta's connection with the seized cash. Both Gazole and Gangarampur and areas adjacent to National Highway-34 are known hotbeds of smuggling of narcotics,Phensedyl and snake venom.