IMPHAL, April 2: In a major bust-up of mobile heroin laboratories in the state, the Narcotic Control Bureau on March 30 apprehended four Muslim youths for operating one such laboratory from an isolated area of Lillong Turel Ahanbi and seized several narcotic items from them.
The persons along with the seized items including 1 kg of opium paste, 6 kilograms of opium cakes, 1 kg of crude heroin powder worth about Rs 1 crore in the domestic market were displayed at the NCB office located at Airport Road today.
An intelligence officer of the department stated that the mobile drug lab bust is the first time in the north east. He said that the Bureau had reports of such mobile labs being set up in the interior areas and had been tracking the smugglers.
Mentioning that the requisite lab material for setting up a mobile drug refinery is cheap but gathering the raw material (opium) is costly, the arrested smugglers have the capability to produce a kg of rough heroin on a daily basis. The finished products were later transported to Assam and later to other states including Lucknow for further refinement.
The officer maintained that the NCB is hot on the trails of other drug labs and the cartel involved in the operations. It was mentioned that there may be such clandestine operations operating in the interior areas of Chandel and Churachandpur district.