Archive · 7 Aug 2026
Malda Police Seize Cash, Brown Sugar; Two Drug Smugglers Arrested
Police officers in Malda, a district in India's West Bengal state, stopped two men on motorcycles.
The men were riding along a big highway called NH12.
The police had a secret tip that the men were carrying something illegal.
When they searched, they found lots of cash, ₹40.63 lakh, which is a very large amount of money.
They also found 568 grams of brown sugar.
Brown sugar here is not the sweet kind; it is a dangerous drug made from heroin.
The police say the drug could be worth about ₹50 lakh on the black market.
The men are suspected of being part of an interstate drug-trafficking network.
Both were arrested, and their motorcycles were taken by the police.
Four days before this, police had found even more cash — ₹2.42 crore — in another house in Malda, linked to the illegal sale of banned cough syrup.
Malda police arrested Siddhartha Mandal and Kishor Mandal, two suspected drug smugglers, at Rangabhita near Gazole.
Officers seized ₹40.63 lakh in cash and 568 grams of brown sugar with an estimated black-market value of about ₹50 lakh.
The suspects were intercepted along NH12 after returning from Bihar on two motorcycles, which were also seized.
Police acted on a specific tip-off and prior surveillance; the duo allegedly admitted the cash came from narcotics sales in Bihar.
The operation came just four days after a joint Malda and South Dinajpur police raid recovered ₹2.42 crore cash and about 9,000 cough syrup bottles in Mangalbari.
- Who
- Two alleged drug smugglers, Siddhartha Mandal of Baishnabnagar and Kishor Mandal of Sahabazpur, were arrested by a team from Gazole police station, with Malda Superintendent of Police Anupam Singh overseeing the operation.
- What
- Police seized ₹40.63 lakh in cash, 568 grams of brown sugar worth about ₹50 lakh on the black market, and two motorcycles from the suspects.
- When
- On Thursday; the articles do not specify an exact calendar date.
- Where
- Rangabhita near Gazole in Malda district, West Bengal, while the suspects travelled along NH12 from Bihar.
- Why
- The interception followed a specific tip-off and surveillance based on prior intelligence about the suspects' movement; the duo allegedly admitted the cash was generated through narcotics sales in Bihar.
- Cash seized
- ₹40.63 lakh
- Brown sugar recovered
- 568 grams (a heroin derivative)
- Estimated value of narcotics
- Around ₹50 lakh on the black market
- Arrested suspects
- Siddhartha Mandal and Kishor Mandal
- Location of seizure
- Rangabhita near Gazole, Malda, along NH12
- Seized vehicles
- Two motorcycles
- Related case
- ₹2.42 crore cash and about 9,000 cough syrup bottles seized in Mangalbari four days earlier