Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
A tip-off from local women led a women-led police team in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar to a major drug-smuggling network, culminating in a shoot-out, the arrest of three accused and tshe seizure of 590 grams of smack (Heroin drug) worth an estimated Rs 1.25 crore in the international market. The operation was carried out under Mission Shakti 6.0, the state’s women’s safety and empowerment initiative.
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The action followed an awareness campaign during which women in the area alerted female police personnel to the alleged sale of narcotics by outsiders around National Highway 58. Acting on the information, the Mission Shakti team gathered intelligence about the network and coordinated with personnel from the New Mandi police station to track down the suspects.
SHOOTOUT ON NH-58, 3 ACCUSED ARRESTED
According to police, the team received information that suspected smack dealers had gathered at Kukra Ground, located along the Delhi-Dehradun National Highway 58, to buy and sell narcotics.
The police team surrounded the spot and asked the suspects to surrender. However, the accused allegedly opened fire at the police party with the intention of killing the personnel after realising they had been cornered.
The police returned fire in self-defence, during which one of the accused, identified as Usman, sustained a bullet injury to his leg. His two associates, Babar and Zahir Langda, attempted to escape by taking cover in a sugarcane field and nearby vegetation.
Police subsequently launched a combing operation and arrested both men.
SMACK WORTH RS 1.25 CRORE, WEAPONS SEIZED
The police recovered 590 grams of smack from the three accused, with its estimated international market value pegged at around Rs 1.25 crore.
The seizures also included an illegal country-made pistol, cartridges, an empty cartridge casing, some cash and a motorcycle. Police said the accused were being questioned as part of the investigation.
During interrogation, the three men allegedly told investigators that they procured narcotics from the Mangalore area of Haridwar district in Uttarakhand and supplied them to various locations in Muzaffarnagar.
The accused were identified as Usman, son of Ikhlaq, a resident of Kiranpur in Mangalore, Haridwar, and Babar, son of Faiyaz, and Zahir Langda, son of Nasir, both residents of Sujru in the Khalapar area of Muzaffarnagar.
The injured accused was taken to the district hospital for treatment, while further questioning of the other two arrested men was under way.
MISSION SHAKTI TEAM’S ROLE HIGHLIGHTED
New Mandi Circle Officer Raju Kumar Saw said the arrests were made during a joint operation by the police station team and the Mission Shakti team under Operation Savera, an initiative targeting drug traffickers as part of Mission Shakti 6.0.
He said women police personnel had been conducting awareness programmes across different areas of New Mandi when a local woman alerted them to suspected narcotics sales around NH-58.
The team used intelligence inputs to identify the alleged network and establish the suspects’ location before laying a trap at Kukra Ground, the officer said.
Saw praised the Mission Shakti team for its role in the operation, adding that further legal action would follow based on the investigation.
The operation highlighted how information shared by local women during an awareness drive helped the police identify and act against an alleged drug-smuggling network.
– Ends
With inputs from Sandeep Saini
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
