Kolkata: A major cross-border narcotics cell was disrupted in a joint operation between the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and the special operations group of the Siliguri City Police, who seized the cell's kingpins along with a large quantity of drugs and cash.
Police sources said that the five people were apprehended Tuesday night by two different teams in two different places.
In the first operation, the joint team seized 893 grammes of brown sugar with an estimated market value of almost Rs 1 crore from a vehicle in the Bhuttabari area of Siliguri-adjacent Bagdogra.
Huge amount of cash worth Rs 17 lakhs were also taken from them.
Raju Shekh, Gautam Mondal, and Bhaat, all locals to the Malda district, have been named as the suspects.
Police sources said that they were planning to sell the narcotics consignment at Siliguri.
Two people were nabbed by DRI sleuths at New Jalpaiguri railway station, which is close to Siliguri, with 16 foreign gold biscuits weighing a total of 2.35 kilograms in another operation.
The confiscated gold shipment was worth roughly Rs 1.50 crore, according to estimates.
Mohammad Nizamuddin, from Uttar Pradesh, and Ansarulla Khan, from Dhanbad, are the two people detained in this case. They were coming from the Tripura capital of Agartala.—Inputs from Agencies