The officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), since Thursday morning, are conducting raids and search operations in and around Kolkata in connection with a multi-crore alleged financial fraud and money laundering through lottery tickets.

As per the last information available, three teams of the Central agency officials are carrying out simultaneous raid and search operations in at least three locations in Kolkata, one at Michael Nagar in Madhyamgram area in North 24 Parganas district in the northern outskirts of Kolkata, and the other two being at a state capital.

Sources aware of the development said that the place at Michael Nagar where the raid and search are on is a lottery ticket printing factory. The other two places where simultaneous raids and search operations are going on are Lake Market and Lake Gardens, both in South Kolkata.

Tunisian security units have arrested six illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa for manufacturing steel boats used in illegal immigration at a house in the northern province of Ariana, private radio station Mosaique FM reported on Monday.

According to the report, authorities received information about a boat hidden in a house in the Raoued region, intended for illegal crossings to Italy.

Upon conducting a search, officers from the Ariana North judicial police brigade discovered that the house had been converted into a workshop for building steel boats.

A modified car engine, designed to be installed on one of the boats, along with a quantity of fuel, was also seized during the operation, news agency reported.

Police have arrested a gang of criminals in northern Afghanistan's Balkh province, said a statement of the provincial police office on Monday.

The arrested criminals were allegedly involved in theft and robbery in the provincial capital, Mazar-i-Sharif city, reports news agency, citing the statement.

To ensure law and order, police units have intensified patrol, mostly with motorcycles elsewhere in the province, the statement further said.

Counter-narcotics police in Afghanistan's Kandahar province have uncovered illicit drugs, including heroin and opium poppy, and arrested seven suspected drug smugglers over the past week, provincial police spokesman Mullah Asadullah Jamshid said on Saturday.

The seizures, which included heroin, opium poppy, hashish, and equipment used for heroin production, were made during operations conducted across parts of the province, Jamshid said.

The official emphasised that police are committed to preventing drug production and trafficking within the province, news agency reported.

A foreign woman from Thailand was shot in the chest in Udaipur city on Saturday, said police, adding that the investigation is on to ascertain the intent of the crime and the miscreants behind it.

Officials said that the woman was left in a hospital by three boys who later fled.

Considering the case suspicious, the injured was referred to Maharana Bhupal Government Hospital (MB).

The woman, identified as Thogkot, is a resident of Thailand. She was staying at Hotel Veer Palace in Udaipur. Thogkot (24) left the hotel at 1.30 a.m. early on Saturday, got into a taxi and left.

Police went to the hospital as well as the hotel to investigate the matter. So far, it has not been ascertained at which location and why the bullet was fired at her. Information is also being sought about the three boys who left her in the hospital.

In yet another shootout in the national Capital, one person was killed and another injured when assailants opened fire at them in Kabir Nagar in Delhi early on Saturday.

The incident occurred in the Welcome police station area in Kabir Nagar when the victim was having food at his home in the wee hours of Saturday.

The deceased has been identified as Nadeem.

Five rounds of bullets were fired at the victim by the assailants, leading to Nadeem's death on the spot and injury to a minor. Another person who was with the victim at the time of the shootout escaped unhurt.

Three persons have been arrested here for allegedly raping a woman hailing from Odisha and then abandoning her in the national capital's Sarai Kale Khan area last month, the police said on Thursday.

The arrested individuals were identified as Prabhu Mahto - an auto rickshaw driver, Parmod Babu, and Mohammad Shamsul.

The incident came to light in the early hours of October 11 when a call was received by the police at around 3.15 a.m. about a woman, who was bleeding, lying on the roadside in the Sarai Kale Khan area.

The police took the victim to hospital where a medical examination confirmed sexual assault, said a police officer, adding that she was still under treatment at AIIMS.

Afghan counter-narcotic police have destroyed 21 drug processing labs and arrested 20 suspects for alleged involvement in illicit drug business in eight out of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, the Ministry of Interior said in two separate statements on Thursday.

Units of counter-narcotic police launched separate operations on the outskirts of Firoz Koah city, the capital of western Ghor province, discovering and destroying 21 drug processing labs, the statement added.

According to the statement, a large amount of illicit drugs and the equipment used in manufacturing heroin were also confiscated during the counter-narcotic operations, news agency reported.

An elderly woman was killed and three other people were injured in a crash involving a car that was allegedly stolen at gunpoint in Australia.

Police in the northeastern state of Queensland said in a statement that a 69-year-old woman died when an allegedly stolen blue Audi being driven by a 16-year-old boy crashed into her vehicle, north of the state capital of Brisbane on Thursday morning.

Emergency services were called to the scene of the crash in Murrumba Downs, approximately 20 km north of central Brisbane, at about 9.45 a.m. local time.

Police officers and paramedics commenced CPR on the 69-year-old woman but were unable to revive her, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Border Security Force (BSF) have arrested a smuggler and seized 10 gold biscuits weighing 1.168 kg from Bongaon in the North 24-Parganas district of West Bengal.

N K Pandey, DIG and spokesperson, South Bengal Frontier, BSF said that the seizure is worth Rs 86.76 lakh while the gold being smuggled on Monday was valued at Rs 37.51 lakh.

“On Tuesday, troops of the Haridaspur Border Outpost acted on specific intelligence inputs regarding the smuggling of gold from Bagdah to Bongaon. Both locations are close to the IBB. A suspect on a motorcycle was stopped near the BDO office in Bongaon and he broke down and admitted that he was carrying 10 gold biscuits. He was taken to the Haridaspur BOP for documentation and legal procedures,” he added.

The CBI on Tuesday launched simultaneous searches at around 20 locations in poll-bound Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bihar and recovered Rs 60 lakh, over 1 kg gold, 1.2 kg silver, gold ornaments, mobiles in connection with illegal mining in the JMM-ruled state.

Investigation revealed that large-scale illegal stone mining activities in the Sahebganj district of Jharkhand allegedly caused substantial losses to the government, primarily through unpaid royalties and the violation of mining laws, a statement said.

CBI officials said the initial investigation had pointed towards the involvement and nexus of key individuals and firms to carry out the illegal mining activity and conceal the proceeds thus obtained.

A temple in Shamshabad on the outskirts of Hyderabad was vandalised on Tuesday, police said.

When the priest of the temple in Airport Colony came in the morning to perform daily rituals, he found idols vandalised.

Alerted by the priest and the locals, the police rushed to the spot and began investigations. The police suspect the miscreants entered the temple and vandalised it late Monday night.

On receiving the information, local BJP leaders also reached the temple and demanded stringent punishment for those involved.

The police have reportedly picked up a suspect and were questioning him.

Despite the heightened vigilance and intensified campaign, drug peddling in the northeastern states remains unabated as narcotic substances valued at Rs 3.75 crore, smuggled from Myanmar, have been seized in Tripura, the police said on Monday.

A police officer said that acting on secret information, the Tripura Police intercepted a car in the Panisagar area, adding a total of 1,50,000 highly addictive Yaba tablets valued at Rs 3.75 crore were recovered from the vehicle.

Police also arrested the driver and seized the vehicle.

"The drugs were smuggled from Myanmar and through Mizoram and southern Assam, the contraband entered Tripura. The drugs were intended to be smuggled to Bangladesh, where the Yaba tablets are very popular among drug-addicts," a police officer said.

Cambodia has recorded a significant rise in both the number of people detained and the amount of narcotics confiscated during the first 10 months of 2024, according to an Anti-Drug Department report on Saturday.

The authorities had nabbed 21,659 drug-related suspects during the January-October period this year, up 29.9 per cent from 16,668 over the same period in 2023, the report said, adding that 742 suspects were foreigners of 17 nationalities.

A total of 7.39 tonnes of illicit drugs was seized from those suspects' possession in the first 10 months of 2024, representing a 171 per cent increase from only 2.72 tonnes over the same period in 2023, the report said.

An Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), Ajit Kumar Singh, allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself in a police barrack in Patna on Saturday.

The deceased was staying at the barrack of the Gandhi Maidan police station in Patna.

Singh, hailing from Badkagaon village under the Tarari police station's jurisdiction in the Bhojpur district, was part of the Bihar Police Reserve Battalion.

Patna Police SP Central, Sweety Sehrawat, confirmed the incident, stating that the information regarding the incident was received around 4 a.m.

A man, his son, and grandson were killed in a clash between two groups in Andhra Pradesh's Kakinada district, police said on Friday.

The incident occurred in Salapaka village of Kajuluru mandal during Diwali celebrations on Thursday night.

Two groups attacked each other with knives, sickles and other sharp-edged weapons, police said, attributing the triple murder to an old rivalry between the groups.

Three generations of one family were wiped out in the shocking incident. Police found the bodies of the victims lying in a pool of blood with their heads smashed and sickles in their hands.

A youth was arrested on the charges of raping a deaf and mute woman at a deserted building in Kultali in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.

Even as the main accused in the case has been arrested, the local people had been agitating claiming that a local Trinamool Congress panchayat chief Prahlad Nashkar allegedly pressurised family members of the victim to settle the matter against Rs 2,00,000.

However, Nashkar has denied the allegations, saying he was the first to reach the spot and inform the family members of the victim about the incident.

The victim's family members filed a complaint on Wednesday evening. Thereafter, the police started an investigation and based on circumstantial evidence, the accused youth was arrested.

On the eve of the Diwali celebration, Assam Rifles on Wednesday recovered huge quantities of drugs worth Rs 18 crores in Tripura after the contraband smuggled from Myanmar and ferried to the state via Mizoram and southern Assam, officials said.

Assam Rifles sources said that the troops of the para-military forces intercepted a vehicle at Narangbari in West Tripura district and recovered 90,000 Yaba tablets from the hidden chambers of the car.

Two drug peddlers – a driver of the vehicle and his associate – were also arrested.

The sources said that the apprehended drug peddlers along with seized drugs and the car have been handed over to the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) for further legal proceedings.

Sri Lanka Police said on Wednesday that they arrested six Bangladeshi nationals in the Western Province on Tuesday evening for violating visa conditions.

The police reported that the arrests were made at a residence in Seeduwa, an area close to Bandaranaike International Airport. The individuals detained are aged between 18 and 43, news agency reported.

Further investigations are underway, according to the police.

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau, during its drive against corruption in the state, on Tuesday arrested Inspector Gurinder Singh, in charge of the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) in Patiala red-handed while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh.

Disclosing this here, an official spokesperson for the Vigilance Bureau said the accused was arrested on the complaint of Pooja, a resident of Rohti Pul village in Nabha tehsil in Patiala district.

He said the complainant had approached the Vigilance Bureau and alleged that the accused Inspector was threatening her father with implicating him in a false NDPS case if he failed to give him a bribe of Rs 3 lakh but the 'deal' was stuck at Rs 1.50 lakh.

The accused had received Rs 50,000 as the first installment of bribe money on Sunday.

The Mumbai Police on Tuesday arrested a 20-year-old man from Noida for allegedly issuing death threat to Zeeshan Siddiqui, son of NCP (Ajit Pawar) leader Baba Siddique, who was shot dead on October 12. The threat came via a phone call to the public relations office of Zeeshan, who is a member of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, representing Bandra East.

According to police sources, an unidentified caller contacted Zeeshan Siddiqui’s office on landline last Friday evening and threatened to kill Zeeshan and Bollywood actor Salman Khan, while also demanding ransom money.

Following the call, an employee at Zeeshan's office filed a complaint, on the basis of which a case was registered at the Nirmal Nagar police station.

In a breakthrough against organised crime, Punjab Police, in a joint operation with Uttar Pradesh Police, have apprehended two shooters from Lucknow, both wanted in separate incidents of sensational murders in Punjab, Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said on Tuesday.

The arrested man has been identified as Bikramjit, alias Vicky, who is an accused in the murder of Gurpreet Singh in TarnTaran, which took place in March. Another arrested accused, Punjab Singh, is the key person in the triple murder in Ferozepur in September.

Both accused possess extensive criminal histories, with multiple serious offences registered against them and were reportedly operating under the directions of foreign-based gangsters, said Yadav.

Earlier in a breakthrough, Mumbai Police, in a joint operation with Punjab Police, apprehended Sujeet Sushil Singh, a resident of Mumbai, wanted in the high-profile murder of NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique.

J&K Police on Saturday attached the property of a known drug peddler in Kulgam district.

Police said that in a drug-related crime, the property of a known drug peddler, Imran Ahmad Ganie was attached in Kulgam district.

“The drug peddler, Imran Ahmad Ganie is presently lodged in Jammu’s Kot Balwal jail under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PIT NDPS) Act. He is involved in multiple drug-related cases,” the police said.

“The property attached is located in the Nussu Badragund area of Qazigund tehsil. The attached property has been illegally acquired. This action falls under Section 68-F (1) of the NDPS Act of 1985 and is connected to FIR no. 34/2024 registered at Police Station Qazigund,” the police stated.

The property was identified as illegally acquired during the investigation. The attached property includes a double-storied house.

Myanmar police seized 238,000 stimulant tablets and 220 grams of heroin in the eastern Shan state, according to the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) on Saturday.

Acting on a tip-off, a joint anti-narcotic task force intercepted a vehicle in the state's Yatsauk township on October 24 and confiscated the drugs.

The seized drugs had a street value of 122.3 million kyats (about $58,238). A suspect was also arrested, news agency reported.

A Mumbai Court has extended the police custody of nine accused in the sensational killing of Nationalist Congress Party leader Baba Ziauddin Siddique by a day till October 26.

The nine were produced before the Esplanade Court Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate V. R. Patil when their collective first remand ended on Friday.

The prosecutors sought an extension of their police custody by three days, but the court declined and allowed one day’s additional remand till Saturday when they will be brought again.

The accused: Gurnail B. Singh (23); Dharmaraj Kashyap (21); Harish Nisad (26); Pravin Lonkar (30); Nitin G. Sapre (32); Sambhaji K. Pardhi (44); Pradeep Dattu Thombre (37); Chetan D. Pardhi and Ram Fulchand Kanojiya (43).

With the arrest of an African national, the Narcotics Control Unit of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) in Bengaluru has busted a drug racket.

The police have seized 1.3 kgs of MDMA drugs worth Rs 1.5 crore in Bengaluru.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Bengaluru Police Commissioner said, “The accused is found to be involved in another narcotics case in Mumbai in 2018. On 23rd October, in the New Mico Road, Lakkasandra area, under Adugodi Police Station limits, the special wing attached to the Central Crime Branch (CCB) received reliable information that a foreign national was engaged in the illegal sale of banned MDMA crystals.”

In another seizure, the Pune Police swooped on a tempo and recovered gold ornaments worth a staggering Rs 138 crore it was ferrying, a top official said here on Friday.

An official of the Sahakar Nagar Police said that at a check-post near the Padmavati complex, they noticed a suspicious-looking temp, intercepted it and subjected it to a thorough search.

Rummaging through the vehicle, the police came across several white bags in which there were boxes concealed and they were opened to reveal the large quantity of glittering gold jewellery, Deputy Commissioner of Police (II) (Mrs) Smartana Patil told media persons.

She said that they questioned the driver on the consignment in the tempo (MH-02-ER-8112), he said that it had originated from Mumbai and was bound for Pune, though the papers found with him are purportedly in order.

Three hotels in the temple town of Tirupati received bomb threats via emails which turned out to be hoaxes.

Police pressed sniffer dogs and bomb disposal squads into service after three private hotels received the bomb threats through emails.

The hotels in Leela Mahal, Kapila Theertham and Alipiri areas received the email on Thursday evening, police said.

"Pak ISI to activate Improvised EDs in listed hotels, Evacuated by 11PM! TN CM involved," read the email received by the hotel.

The Border Security Force (BSF) has arrested a smuggler near the Indo-Bangladesh Border (IBB) with 1.4 kg gold.

The incident occurred at Ghojadanga in West Bengal's North 24-Parganas district. The gold, being smuggled from Bangladesh to India, has been valued at Rs 1.2 crore.

“Troops of the 102 Bn BSF, posted at the Ghojadanga Border Outpost, received intelligence inputs regarding an attempt to smuggle gold from across the border. The alert jawans kept a close watch on cross-border movement and stopped a motorcyclist whose actions seemed suspicious at the BSF Check Post near the busy Ghojadanga Land Port,” said Nilotpal Kumar Pandey, DIG and spokesperson, South Bengal Frontier, BSF.

At least 700 kilograms of adulterated chilli powder was seized from the Hathikhana wholesale market in Gujarat's Vadodara.

The Food and Drugs Control Administration (FDCA) launched raids at four shops in the Hathikhana wholesale market, during which chilli powder was seized from one establishment.

The officials have sent chilli powder samples for laboratory testing to determine their quality.

This latest incident has again cast a shadow over the Hathikhana market, which has been scrutinised for previous cases involving questionable food products.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) was, on Monday, conducting massive raid and search operations in at least 14 locations in West Bengal in connection with the multi-crore ration distribution case.

Sources said most of the places where the different teams of ED officials were conducting raids and search operations are concentrated in Kolkata and the adjacent district of Howrah.

Each team of ED officials was escorted by the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel.

Pakistan-based terror outfit The Resistance Front (TRF) has owned responsibility for Sunday’s terror attack on unarmed, innocent civilians in Jammu & Kashmir’s Ganderbal district, official sources have confirmed.

Sources said, “TRF Chief Sheikh Sajjad Gul, based in Pakistan, is the mastermind of this attack. On his instructions, the local module of TRF became active, which for the first time targeted Kashmiri and non-Kashmiri people together.

The number of terrorists who carried out the targeted killing of seven civilians in Gagangir area of Ganderbal district is believed to be two to three.

This incident has been carried out by the local module of TRF. This module was doing recce of the crime spot for the last one month.

Five students of the University of Alabama in the southern US state of Alabama have been arrested and charged with hazing in incidents at a fraternity house in August, local media reported.

Court documents cited a video showing pledges on their hands and knees being "yelled at, stepped on, pushed, had items thrown at them and had beer poured on them," according to report.

The video also showed pledges in what is believed to be an initiation where they're lined up doing wall sits and pushups and being yelled at by "active members" of the fraternity, said the report on Friday.

As the number of arrests in NCP leader Baba Siddique’s assassination rose to nine, his son Zeeshan Siddique made a post on social media, that as of now, is inscrutable.

Taking to X, MLA Zeeshan Siddique wrote on Friday: “Not all that is hidden sleeps, Nor all that is visible speaks.”

He had demanded justice for his family, as he appealed that his 66-year-old father's death should not be politicised and nor should it go in vain.

Zeeshan Siddique had met Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfolio in the Maharashtra government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Two persons were shot at in Gopalganj district court on Friday leading to chaos inside the premises.

One of the victims, identified as Vishal Singh Kushwaha, a notorious criminal, was brought to court for a legal appearance when two persons fired on him.

According to police, two persons Suresh Kuahwaha and his friend, who were already present at the scene, fired on Vishal Kushwaha. The bullet brushed his ear and hit his friend, Gulab Hussain on his stomach. He had come to the court to meet Vishal and was standing near him.

Both injured individuals were rushed to Sadar Hospital for immediate medical attention. Due to the severity of Gulab Hussain's condition, the doctors referred him to Gorakhpur for better treatment.

Gulab Hussain, the son of the late Badshah Mian, is a resident of Manjhagarh.