Shillong, July 1 (UNI) Two sniffer dogs Hammer (Labrador) and Safi (Cocker Spaniel), part of Meghalaya police’s K9 unit, on Saturday helped the police to retrieve heroin worth Rs. 5 crore from a farm house in Ri-Bhoi district.

Three persons were arrested in this connection after a 24-hour long operation, police said.

With the assistance of Hammer and Safi , police retrieved 70 soap cases containing orange powder, which tested positive for heroin, from an iron box inside a farm house at Lumkeni village, Umran in Ri Bhoi district, police said.

Based on specific information from a reliable source that a transaction of suspected narcotic substances was likely to take place at a farm house in Lumkeni village on Friday, police swung into action and set up a checkpoint at Umsning Bypass junction on NH6.

At the checkpoint, one Black Alto bearing Meghalaya registration number ML05K 0314 carrying two suspected drug traffickers — Ronand Kyndiah and Daniel Syiem -- of Shillong were detained and questioned, police said.

“Initially, Kyndiah and Syiem did not cooperate with the police during questioning and refused to reveal the location of drugs, following which they were detained for further questioning,” Giri Prasad, the district police chief of Ri-Bhoi said.

Prasad said the duo later revealed that Thokchom Naba Singh of Manipur’s Imphal West district, who supplied the drugs to them is proceeding towards Guwahati, after which another Naka was set up near Byrnihat OutPost and Singh was also detained.

On further interrogation of all the suspects , Prasad said the trio confirmed that the drugs consignment was inside a farmhouse at Lumkeni Village, Umran.

“We search the farmhouse along with the K9 Dog Squad and Hammer and Safi help us in identifying an iron box suspected to contain contraband substances,” Prasad said.

Meanwhile, police have booked the trio under NDPS Act.