In a major breakthrough under its anti-drug campaign, the CIA team of Kangra police seized 154.51 grams of heroin in the Dharamsala police station area and arrested a suspected drug trafficker who had allegedly been on the police radar for a long time.

The heroin seizure was part of an overnight crackdown in which district police unearthed four separate NDPS cases, arrested five accused, booked two juveniles and seized two Alto cars and a motorcycle.

Kangra Superintendent of Police Kulbhushan Verma said the main accused, identified as Sandeep, a resident of Kangra district, had allegedly been involved in drug trafficking for a considerable period. A juvenile has also been booked in the case, while the Alto car allegedly used to transport the contraband has been seized.

The SP said police were working to establish the forward links of the heroin supply chain. Another suspect from Palampur has been detained for questioning and legal action would follow based on the outcome of the investigation. Preliminary findings suggest the heroin was sourced from neighbouring states, particularly Punjab.

Besides the heroin seizure, police registered three separate cases involving charas.

In the first case, registered in the Palampur police station area, police recovered 114 grams of charas from Dheeraj Kumar (24), a resident of Chamba district. He was arrested and the motorcycle allegedly used in the offence was seized.

In another operation at Palampur, police recovered 1.029 kg of charas from Yoginder Kumar, a resident of Thachi in Mandi district. The Alto car allegedly used to transport the contraband was also impounded. In a separate operation, Baijnath police recovered 269 grams of charas from Anil Kumar (22), Shivansh (18) and a juvenile, all residents of Kangra district.