10 tonnes of ganja, arms seized in Siliguri

Smugglers in fake Army uniforms, caught in fake Army truck.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized 10 metric tonnes of marijuana and a massive cache of arms and ammunition being smuggled in a fake Army vehicle by nine men wearing fake Army uniforms in Siliguri in West Bengal.

This is one of the largest seizures of drugs ever. DRI has also nabbed some alleged buyers in Kolkata.

Among the seized arms are two AK-47 rifles, four 9 mm pistols and two light machine guns, apart from around a hundred rounds of ammunition.

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The truck had a fake registration number, resembling those used by the Army in the Northeast.

Sources said DRI was working on specific intelligence. The operation was carried out jointly by DRI personnel in Kolkata and Siliguri, where the directorate operates a four-personnel station.

The West Bengal police was involved in the recovery of the arms. The consignment was coming from Nagaland, and had managed to pass through heavily guarded checkpoints using forged documents.

Sources in the police said that even though a preliminary inquiry had established the vehicle’s registration number and documents to be fake, they would nonetheless probe the possible involvement of security officials.

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The LMGs recovered are German-made, and the pistols are of US make, the sources said.

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