Seized during separate operations, over 60,000 kg of unclaimed betel nuts continue to lie unclaimed in possession of the Assam Police. A senior official said that the massive stockpile at Lakhipur Police Station in Assam’s Cachar district has worried the police station about whether the consignment was for smuggling or illegal trade.
Repeated efforts have been made to get an individual or entity to step forward and claim ownership of the confiscated betel nuts, but no one has yet emerged to lay claim to them. The first major seizure happened on October 13, 2024, when 405 sacks, weighing 26,905 kg of betel nuts were confiscated by the authorities. Two days later, on December 26, 2023, the case was even bigger when 33,515.26 kg of betel nuts were seized in the second case.
The Lakhipur Police Station of Assam has been filled with unclaimed sacks as the authorities have issued multiple notifications to those present for identifying the sacks and providing proof of the actual owner. But he received no response and no stockpile was touched.
As has been widely speculated, the situation would seemingly support a game of yin and yang with these goods and whether they are one with the illegal trade networks. With the absence of any claimants with both the large quantity in question and the paucity of any claimants, authorities suspect that there might be some kind of smuggling operation.
With such a huge volume, the challenge remains for the police during their investigation – what do you do with all these unclaimed goods? If no claimants come forward, authorities may have to pursue legal ways to sell, auction or dispose of the stockpile. And law enforcement is still looking for the source and any possible links to cross-border smuggling.
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