Colonel, 5 others held in northeast drug haul

A colonel, an army man and four civilians were detained at a police post, 50 km south of here, early Sunday while allegedly trying to smuggle party drugs worth more than Rs 15 crore to Mayanmar.Colonel detained for carrying contraband

A colonel, an army man and four civilians were detained at a police post, 50 km south of here, early Sunday while allegedly trying to smuggle party drugs worth more than Rs 15 crore to Mayanmar.

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More than three lakh strips of pseudoephedrine tablets packed in the seven airbags were recovered from three vehicles at a police check-point at Pallel in Manipur's Thoubal district.

The police detained army public relations officer Lt Col Ajay Choudhary of Bihar Infantry attached with the 57 mountain division at Leimakhong in Manipur and co-passenger N Brojendro Singh, an assistant manager with Indigo Airlines, sources said. Three locals and RK Bablu, who is with the 165 infantry battalion of the territorial army, were also detained.

They were all moving towards Moreh, a town that borders Mayanmar and is a transit point for drug traffickers. Large quantities of pseudoephedrine, prescribed for cold, cough and runny nose, are smuggled through Manipur to south Asian countries for manufacturing psychotropic drugs.

A 10-tablet strip costs between Rs 80 to Rs 300 in the international market against the actual price of Rs 3.75-R6 in India. “It is a matter of investigation. If found guilty, strictest action will be taken as per the law of the land,” army spokesperson Col Jagdeep Dahiya said in Delhi.

With PTI inputs