GUWAHATI:
The Guwahati police summoned 10 police personnel for questioning in connection with an illegal Burmese supari (betelnut) syndicate.
The concerned officers are from Bihara OP, Arunachal OP, Tarapur TOP, Ghungoor OP, Rangirkhari OP and National Highway PP, to name a few.
“The police initiated the investigation, following a tip that some people are trying to restart the supari syndicate in Barak Valley and expand the network to other parts of the state and outside. At the junior level, some policemen might be involved in facilitating the syndicate,” said Harmeet Singh, the Guwahati Commissioner of Police (GCP).
Singh added that the Crime Branch of the city police has registered a case (vide No 1/22) under Section 120(B), 379, 411, 465, 468, 471 of IPC) under the supervision of Assam chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, and hunt is on to trace others who are currently out of Assam.
Singh emphasised the GCP worked on the case for seven to eight days before nabbing Bidyut Sinha in Guwahati for allegedly trying to connect people to reorganise the syndicate in the state. The police will proceed further based on Sinha’s confessional statements.
According to his confession, the consignments of Burmese supari have been smuggled out to Mizoram. It then enters Barak Valley through Lailapur Road from where it gets into Meghalaya and other states of the country.
The Burmese dry betelnut syndicate is a thriving illegal business involving crores of rupees. The supari consignments enter Assam through Myanmar without paying customs duty and are then sold in other parts of the country. The local betelnut farmers are facing a hard time owing to this illegal trading.