Areca nuts and drugs worth Rs 1.18 crore seized in Mizoram, two held

Aizawl, May 3 (IANS) The Assam Rifles, in a joint operation with other law-enforcing agencies, have seized areca nuts and drugs worth Rs 1.18 crore and apprehended two persons in Mizoram during the past 24 hours, officials said on Saturday.

A defence spokesman said that the Assam Rifles and Customs, acting on specific intelligence inputs about the movement of illegally smuggled areca nuts, launched an operation on Friday at Tlangsam areas in Mizoram’s Champhai district and seized 187 bags of areca nuts, which were illegally smuggled from neighbouring Myanmar. The smuggled areca nuts were carried in a truck, which was also seized by the troops, he said, adding that the driver of the vehicle was also arrested.

The recovered contraband, along with the detainee and the vehicle, have been handed over to the Customs Preventive Force, Champhai.

In another incident, Assam Rifles and officials of the Excise and Narcotics Department of the Mizoram government on Friday launched an area domination patrolling towards Zote village in the same Champhai district. During the operation, the troops seized heroin worth Rs 16.66 lakh and apprehended a drug peddler. The recovered contraband and the apprehended individual were handed over to the Excise and Narcotics Department, Champhai.

Despite heightened security, smuggling of various drugs, especially highly addictive methamphetamine tablets from Myanmar, continued unabated into the northeastern states. Myanmar, which shares a 1,643 km unfenced border with four northeastern states -- Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, and Mizoram -- serves as a key transit point for drugs, particularly heroin and methamphetamine tablets, entering India.

Myanmar's Chin state is a hub for smuggling of varied drugs, exotic wildlife animals and many other contrabands through six Mizoram districts -- Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Hnahthial, Saitual and Serchhip.

--IANS

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