The Tripura police has achieved a big success in its anti-drug operations and managed to seize 9,500 Yaba tablets worth Rs 4.5 crore and arrested a driver on the intervening nights of Friday and Saturday.

Police sources said that the driver, Debabrata Dey of Udaipur, Gomati district, was carrying the contraband items in a secret chamber of his 12-wheeler lorry loaded with cement.

Police added that based on secret information, the police personnel of Bagbasa police station, led by OC conducted a search operation and intercepted the lorry bearing registration number NL-01L-7109. Police recovered the Yaba tablets, which are sold in the black market at a high price, from the lorry and arrested the driver.

The North District Superintendent of Police (SP) Bhanupada Chakraborty speaking with media persons said that the arrest was made under the direction of the Chief Minister and Home Minister Dr Manik Saha, who has instructed the police to carry out anti-drug operations across the state with great diligence. He said that a specific case under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 has been registered against the driver and a team of police started interrogation to get details of drug smugglers movements.

The SP added that the police will continue their anti-drug operations despite the challenges of maintaining law and order in the state during the coming festivities of Durga Puja.