Kolkata: Two motorcycle-borne youths were arrested on Thursday from Gazole in Malda district of West Bengal while they were carrying huge unaccounted cash and banned narcotics.
A total of Rs 41 lakh of unaccounted cash and 568 grams of Brown Sugar have been recovered from their possession. A district police officer said that the estimated value of the banned narcotics seized from their possession will be a couple of lakhs of rupees.
They were arrested from the National Highway-12 in the Rangavita area of Gazole in the morning, while they were riding two motorcycles. On being tipped off by sources about the two youths carrying huge cash and narcotics from Malda to Gazole town, a team of sleuths from the Malda District Police intercepted them on the National Highway.
After frisking them thoroughly, Rs 41 lakh in cash and 568 grams of Brown Sugar were recovered from their possession.
“The two arrested youths have been identified as Kishore Mondal and Siddhartha Mondal. They were taking the cash and narcotics consignments from Gazole to Malda town. The two motorcycles by which they were travelling have also been seized,” said a district police officer.
Both will be presented at a district court later in the day, and the public prosecutor will seek their police custody. The cops believe that they are part of an organised narcotics trafficking racket. The police are currently interrogating them to know about the others involved in the racket.
In the last few days, there have been a series of unaccounted cash recoveries from different pockets in West Bengal. On Wednesday, a trolley full of cash was recovered from an abandoned brick kiln in Durgapur in West Burdwan district, the police said.
The trolley contained more than Rs 48 lakh in cash.
Earlier, the Birbhum district police recovered cash worth Rs 28 crore and 15 kilograms of gold, with an estimated market price of Rs 22 crore, from the residence of an individual, Minar Mondal, a close relative of influential stone-quarry owner in the district, Tulu Mondal a.k.a. Mohammad Nazibuddin, who is currently absconding.
Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also started the process of initiating an investigation against Tulu Mondal under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
(IANS)
