Zakir Talukdar, Altaf Hussain in Police remand for three days; Abu Mazumdar still absconding

If this team of Burmese Supari Syndicate had 11 players on the field, the Cachar Police has nabbed 10 of them. Abu (Abub) Mazumdar, the biggest batter who is also the captain is still absconding. His immediate lieutenants, Altaf Hussain and Zakir Talukdar are in the nest of Police.

Yesterday, Cachar Police apprehended both of them. Superintendent of Police, Cachar, Dr. Ramandeep Kaur informed that the Police nabbed both of them from the Chamragudam area. After apprehending them, Police sent both for mandatory medical checkups and then they were kept at Silchar Sadar Police station under strict scrutiny.

Today, both of them have been sent in Police remand for three days. As per sources, both of them were top handlers in the nexus that transported areca nuts smuggled from Myanmar. The consignment used to enter India through Mizoram. That is when the nexus of Abu, Altaf, Zakir took charge and loaded trucks worth crores of nuts. Those trucks entered Assam through Cachar district’s Lailapur gate. Likes of Anjan Paul, Kartik Paul, Dipankar Deb, Zakir Laskar of Bagha used their resources and hundreds of sacks filled with thousands of kilograms of areca nuts transported out of the Cachar district either to Bangladesh or to Gutka factories in other regions of the country.

Though these nuts are called Burmese Supari, sources in the mafia cycle inform that the nuts are actually procured from Indonesia. Using several subways, the nuts are brought to Myanmar and then the nexus takes over. This illegal transportation lands a huge revenue blow to the state and central government. If these trucks are loaded and transported legally, each truck load will come with a price tag of around Rs 40 lakhs in several taxes and duties. The nexus transported trucks by charging one-third of that. As a result, all of them got richer but the government treasury suffered.

While Assam Police and primarily Cachar Police under the leadership of Dr. Ramandeep Kaur attained great success in busting this racket, the mastermind, Abu Mazumdar is still absconding. Not only that, it is very difficult for the nexus to operate without the help of the Police officials on duty. So far, not a single Police officer has been formally detained for investigation. How this investigation shapes up in coming days is something that remains to be seen.