Falakata: Police in West Bengal's Alipurduar district have seized 1,17,200 kg of betel nuts in a crackdown on an alleged smuggling syndicate, recovering the consignment from multiple storage facilities in the Falakata area of north Bengal, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced on Tuesday, November 3.

Source: Nation Press

The operation was carried out by Falakata Police under the Alipurduar District Police, acting on credible intelligence, according to the Chief Minister's statement. Two men — Bapon Saha and Sujan Barman — were apprehended at the scene, and cases have been registered against them under relevant sections of the law, with police set to seek their remand for questioning.

Source: The Hans India

Adhikari said a significant portion of the recovered consignment appears to be of foreign origin. Officials have not yet disclosed the estimated value of the seized stock. He described the action as a "swift and decisive operation" and said raids are continuing to trace and arrest the remaining associates connected to the network.

1,17,200 kgBetel nuts seized
2Men apprehended at the scene
MultipleStorage facilities raided in Falakata

What the Chief Minister said

Sharing details of the operation in a social media post, Adhikari framed the seizure as evidence of his government's zero-tolerance stand against illicit trade, smuggling and organised rackets. "No one involved in anti-social or unlawful activities will be spared," he said, commending the Alipurduar District Police for their vigilance and dedication to upholding law and order.

Part of a wider crackdown on the supari route

North Bengal has repeatedly figured in enforcement actions against foreign-origin betel nut smuggling. In a separate, earlier operation, the Enforcement Directorate searched 16 premises on October 1 across Guwahati, Siliguri, Bagdogra, Phansidewa and Cooch Behar in a money-laundering probe into a syndicate it said had smuggled Indonesian, Thai and Burmese-origin areca nut into India through the Indo-Myanmar border, with bank credits exceeding Rs 1,000 crore traced to linked accounts. Tuesday's state police seizure targets the storage end of the same alleged trade corridor, though investigators have not publicly linked the two cases.

What happens next: the two arrested men are expected to be produced in court as police seek remand, and the continuing raids will determine whether the Falakata seizure leads to further arrests and recoveries across north Bengal's storage and transport network. The allegations against those arrested remain to be tested in court.