Sonamura, Oct 25 (TIWN): In two successive raids carried out jointly by the Sub-Divisional Administration of Sonamura and the BSF, huge amounts of illicit foreign liquor, dried cannabis (ganja), illegally stocked PDS rice and poly-bags were recovered today afternoon from the Thalibari area of Kathalia R D Block. The total market value of the seized items has been worked out to be Rs.28.70 lakh.

Besides, two Ganja Plantations were also destroyed during the raid operations, which were led by the SDM Sonamura, Subhasis Das, accompanied by Anil Ranwa, Coy Commander of Dhanpur BSF BOP, Ratan Mani Debbarma, Chief Inspector (Food) of Sonamura, Gopal Das, Sr. Excise Inspector, Sonamura. Acting on secret information made available to the Sub-Divisional Administration, the joint team first raided the houses of one Manik Pal and his neighbor Nityananda Palat around 3.30 p.m., and recovered about 550 bottles of illegally stocked foreign liquor from the house of Manik Pal, the market value of which is estimated to be around Rs.1.10 lakh.

From the appearance of the seized liquor, they all appear to be spurious, which may trigger serious toxic hazards. Besides, 50 kg of dried cannabis (ganja) was also recovered from an abandoned place behind the houses of the aforesaid two persons. The recovered ganja would fetch a market price of about Rs.2.50 lakh. The SDM Sonamura then detected two thriving ganja plantations, which had about 1000 ganja plants, and as per the standard yield measurement of the Excise department, the plantations are worth Rs.25.00 lakh, considering yield from each plant to be 500 gm of cannabis. In the second raid carried out in quick succession, two market-stalls were raided, from one of which 350 kg of illegally pilfered PDS rice and huge amounts of illegal poly-bags were recovered. The PDS rice would have a minimum price-tag of Rs.7000.00 if sold in the open market. The raid operations spanned about one and half hours, and were concluded at 5.00 p.m. Specific case is being lodged against Manik Pal, from whose house the illegal foreign liquor were recovered.    

SDM Sonamura Subhahis Das with seized goods at Sonamura. TIWN Pic Oct 25