Morigaon, Jul 12 (PTI) An alleged drug trafficker was shot at and seriously injured while he was trying to escape from police custody after he was arrested in Assam's Morigaon district, a police officer said on Wednesday.

The trafficker had escaped police dragnet on Monday night when a joint operation by the Special Task Force and Kamrup Metro police personnel had launched a search operation and intercepted a vehicle, resulting in the seizure of heroin worth Rs 16 crore and the arrest of one person.

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An operation was then launched to nab the alleged trafficker who was suspected to be hiding in Borbori area of Morigaon district, Superintendent of Police Hemanta Das said.

The offender, who was identified as Mafizul Hoque, was arrested on Tuesday night and he tried to escape by attacking a policeman who was injured in the incident, Das said.

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The police opened fire, injuring the drug trafficker seriously.

Both the injured policeman and Hoque have been admitted to the Gauhati Medical College Hospital with the condition of the latter stated to be critical.

The police also recovered drugs worth Rs three crore from a seized truck which was allegedly used by the traffickers, Das added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)