SHILLONG: A wanted drug peddler was arrested by the Customs and a huge cache of banned psychotropic tablets, worth nearly Rs. 20 crore were seized in Meghalaya’s Ri-Bhoi district, an official said Thursday.
The Customs sleuths were keeping a watch on the peddler identified as Letminlum Khongsai at Killing village, the officer said.
Letminlum had rented a small room at Killing village and was waiting to receive the consignment that came from Imphal Wednesday evening, he said.
The vehicle was intercepted near the rented house of Letminlum at Killing village. On searching the vehicle, 19.7 kgs of Yaba tablets, a banned psychotropic drug, hidden in a deflated tyre of the car and on the sides of the doors, were seized, he said.
The seizure of 19.7 kg of banned Yaba tablets, worth nearly Rs. 20 crore, is one of the biggest seizure by the Custom North East Commissionerates office, they said.
Letminlum told the Customs sleuths that the drug was to be transported to West Garo Hills district and across the Brahmaputra into Bangladesh, the officer said.
Both Letminlum and the driver were booked under relevant sections of the NDPS Act. They were produced in a local court in Ri-Bhoi district Thursday which remanded them to 14 days judicial custody.