In a significant crackdown on drug mafias, Shimla police have frozen assets worth Rs 1.13 crores of key drug traffickers in two separate cases registered in the district.
While addressing a press conference here, Shimla ASP Abhishek Dhiman said that the action came after financial investigations initiated by the police in two cases.
He said that in the first case registered on April 10, the district police had arrested two Nepal natives named N Bahadur, Mohan Shahi and Chakra Bahadur with 9 kg of opium from Narkanda after which an investigation was initiated.
“During the investigation, police found the involvement of a woman named Laxmi, who owned a tea shop in Kandaghat, Solan district, following which she was arrested with approximately 2 kg of opium on April 13.
Further investigation revealed that N Bahadur and Laxmi were involved in drug trafficking for a very long time. Both have been actively supplying opium to local youths mainly in Kandaghat and Narkanda, through a well-organised network,” said the ASP.
“Financial investigation revealed that N Bahadur had purchased two vehicles, Innova and Urban Cruiser, from drug money. Police had also recovered Rs 12 lakh cash from him. Additionally, Laxmi had purchased a Royal Enfield motorcycle through drug money and had deposited Rs 5 lakh in her savings account. Total assets worth Rs 53 lakhs, which they had acquired through drug trafficking, has been frozen by us,” he added.
The ASP further said that in the second case, police has frozen assets worth Rs 60 lakh of an individual identified as Aryan, who was involved in drug trafficking, mainly heroin.
Providing the details, Dhiman said that Aryan was recently detained by the police under the Prevention of Illicit Trafficking Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PIT NDPS) Act for being a repeated drug trafficker.
“During the investigation, it was found that the accused had acquired a property worth Rs 60 lakh through drug trafficking. He had purchased a Scorpio vehicle and had constructed a two-storey house in his village in Kotkhai. It was also found that the accused was neither employed nor he owned any business,” said the ASP.
He further said that this is the highest number of property seizures that has been done by the district police as compared to the past three years.
