Over 9,000 kgs of 'ganja' and foreign-made automatic arms worth crores were today seized as they were being smuggled by nine men posing as Army personnel in two vehicles in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district.
The huge cache of narcotics and weapons was seized by DRI officials as it was being illegally ferried in two vehicles, including a six-wheeler carrier truck and a white-coloured gypsy, both having fake number plates and camouflaged as defence vehicles, official sources said.
Acting on an input that the convoy, which had started from Dimapore in Nagaland for West Bengal and crossed the Assam-Bengal border last night, a team of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officials and local police was formed.
The team intercepted the truck and gypsy at about 4:00 AM today at Fulbari toll gate in Jalpaiguri district.
The officials arrested nine persons, who were dressed as Army personnel, travelling in the convoy, they said.
They have been identified as Pappu Giri, Dipak Singh, Munna Kumar Yadav, Rajesh Kumar Singh, Manoj Kumar Singh, Sanjay Singh and Ram Samuj Yadav, all from Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh, Dhiraj Singh of Kotma in Madhya Pradesh and Binoy Pandey from Siwan in Bihar.
On examination of the carrier truck and gypsy, 9,310 kgs of contraband 'ganja' worth Rs 5 crore, along with arms and ammunitions were recovered.
Arms recovered include four improvised automatic pistols having mark 'Made in USA', one improvised AK-47, one automatic MP-5 submachine gun having mark 'Made in Germany' and two air guns, the sources said.
Ammunition recovered included 23 rounds of .65 calibre bullets, 90 rounds of .22 calibre bullets of make KF Germany and 39 rounds of 7.65 calibre bullets, they said.
"It is a big catch. The officials will seek their custody to interrogate the accused," a senior DRI official said.
