Tripura govt probes cop-politician nexus in drug smuggling

Agartala: Besides launching a drive against drug dealers, peddlers and users, the Tripura government initiated a parallel investigation against a section of police officers and political leaders on their alleged involvement in drug smuggling, sources in the state home department said on Thursday. An additional SP of the Sepahijala district was called to the police headquarters for his alleged involvement in a high-level narcotics racket, which has been operating from Bangladesh. Earlier, 17 policemen of various ranks were suspended from service and investigated for their alleged involvement in the drug smuggling in the past five years.“Tripura police have a list of around 46 police officers, including a couple of district SPs, SDPOs, and inspectors who have a nexus with drug dealers and smugglers. The government has the input on those officers and policemen, who are collecting hefty subscriptions on a monthly basis from the drug network. Some political leaders of the ruling party are involved in the same nexus besides the negotiation of tenders, contracts, and land deals,” the home department official said.Tripura police have stepped up operations against drug dealers and narcotics smugglers across the state and arrested as many as 245 people in a week-long drive for their involvement in drug trafficking, a police release said on Thursday.During the operations, police seized drugs valued at Rs 2.6 crore, registered at least 50 cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, conducted searches of over 53,000 vehicles and organised 375 public meetings against the rampant use of narcotic drugs in seven days, which is the first-ever biggest police action against illegal trafficking of drugs and dealing of narcotic items.After Union home minister Amit Shah declared a crusade against the drug and narcotics networks operating in the northeastern states, the then CM Biplab Kumar Deb launched the anti-narcotics drive but couldn’t get much success because of the resistance from a section of his party leaders and police officers. CM Manik Saha has directed the police to follow zero tolerance in all drug and narcotics cases and to start an investigation into the allegations against the political leaders and police officers involved in such kind of activities, an official said.