Police seized a large sum of cash and contraband during a routine naka checking on National Highway 12 in the Rangavita area of Gazol, Malda. Two youths riding motorcycles were intercepted, leading to the recovery of ₹40,69,700 in cash, which officers counted on the roadside using a money counting machine. Police also recovered 568 grams of brown sugar with an estimated market value in lakhs of taka.
The two arrested individuals have been identified as Siddharth Mandal and Kishore Mandal, both residents of the Kaliachak area in Malda. According to police sources, the accused were transporting the recovered money and brown sugar from Dalkhola to Malda. Law enforcement authorities confiscated their two motorcycles and detained both individuals for detailed interrogation to identify the intended recipients of the drugs and cash.
This bust follows recent anti-narcotics and anti-smuggling operations across the state. In a prior raid at Mangalbari in Malda, police seized over ₹2.40 crore in cash, gold, and banned cough syrup from a businessman’s house, while another operation in Durgapur resulted in the recovery of ₹48 lakh from a brick kiln. Police investigations into the broader network involved in this latest drug trafficking case are currently ongoing.