Tripura Police arrest key drug kingpin after Rs 5.4-Cr cough syrup seizure from train

Agartala, Oct 31: In a major breakthrough in the ongoing crackdown on narcotics trafficking, the Tripura Police Crime Branch has arrested one of the key masterminds linked to the recent seizure of banned pharmaceutical drugs worth Rs 5.4 crore from a goods train arriving from Delhi.

According to a senior police official, Rajib Dasgupta (42), one of the main operators in a major drug trafficking network across the Northeast, was arrested on Thursday night by the Anti-Narcotics Wing of the Tripura Police Crime Branch (TPCB).

The arrest follows the October 17 seizure of 1,07,800 bottles of ESkuf cough syrup from a goods train stationed at Jirania railway station in West Tripura district.

The banned syrup, which contains Codeine Phosphate and Triprolidine Hydrochloride, is a controlled substance under Indian law and is widely misused as a narcotic both domestically and internationally.

“Another major peddler involved in the case is absconding. Raids are continuing to apprehend him and others associated with the illegal supply chain,” a senior official said, adding that investigations are ongoing to uncover the wider network.

The October 17 operation was conducted jointly by the Tripura Police, Assam Rifles, Government Railway Police (GRP), Special Task Force (STF), and the Customs Department, based on specific intelligence inputs.

Officials said the contraband was hidden inside two wagons of the train, camouflaged among legitimate cargo including rice and chicken feed.

The seized consignment has been handed over to the Customs Department for further legal proceedings and investigation into the illicit pharmaceutical supply chain, which is suspected to extend across several Northeastern states and into Bangladesh.

Authorities believe the consignment was part of a larger cross-border smuggling network, with the drugs intended to be trafficked into Bangladesh through Tripura’s porous frontier. The state shares an 856-km border with Bangladesh, making it a critical transit point for smugglers operating across the region.

“Drugs are often smuggled from Myanmar, transported through Mizoram and southern Assam, and brought to Tripura for further movement into Bangladesh,” another senior police official said.

In the past three weeks alone, law enforcement agencies have seized narcotics worth over Rs 136 crore in Tripura, underscoring the scale of the illegal trade. Security forces, particularly the Assam Rifles and Tripura Police, have intensified surveillance and inter-agency coordination to combat the growing menace of drug trafficking in the region.

Officials reaffirmed that operations will continue to dismantle trafficking routes and arrest all individuals involved in the cross-border narcotics network threatening the stability and safety of the Northeast.

With inputs from news agencies