Itanagar: A multi-tasking staffer of the state horticulture department, arrested in a drug peddling case from the Civil Secretariat premises here on Monday, had been supplying narcotics to several other contingency employees for over a year, police sources said on Wednesday.
The accused, caught with 44.36 grams of heroin valued at around Rs 3.7 lakh, allegedly supplied drugs to at least five other secretariat staffers, mostly drivers, MTS and peons, they said.
Despite the relocation of the horticulture department to Chimpu, the accused retained his security pass, which allowed him to move freely within the high-security Civil Secretariat complex without raising suspicion, the police source said.
The breakthrough came under the ongoing anti-drug campaign ‘Operation Dawn 2.0’ when police, acting on a tip-off, apprehended the man inside a bathroom on the third floor of Block 3 on Monday.
He was allegedly trying to sell narcotics when vigilant security personnel intervened and confined him until police arrived.
A team led by sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Kengo Dirchi arrested the suspect and recovered eight plastic vials and a tobacco container containing heroin, four used syringes, and Rs 32,760 in cash.
Following interrogation, 18 additional vials of suspected heroin and three scissors were recovered from behind a bathroom window. All actions were conducted in accordance with the NDPS Act, 1985.
The accused, identified as Vicky Chetry (32), a resident of Zero Point near Gompa Mandir in Itanagar and a native of Borgolai Milan Nagar in Assam’s Tinsukia district, is now in judicial custody.
A case has been registered, and further investigation is underway, the source said.
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