Northeast drug crackdown: Assam Rifles, Manipur Police make major seizures

Aizawl/Imphal: Assam Rifles seized methamphetamine tablets worth Rs 6.40 crore and heroin valued at Rs 3.71 lakh in Mizoram, while Manipur Police recovered brown sugar worth around Rs 15 crore in Churachandpur district and arrested a suspected drug peddler, officials said on Thursday.

Methamphetamine tablets, a highly addictive synthetic drug banned in India, continue to be among the major narcotics smuggled from Myanmar into the Northeast.

A defence spokesman in Mizoram said Assam Rifles personnel launched a targeted operation on Wednesday night following specific intelligence about the transshipment of narcotics through Crossing Point-I at Zokhawthar, along the India-Myanmar border in Champhai district.

During the operation, the troops searched the suspected area and recovered seven packets of methamphetamine tablets weighing approximately 8 kg, the spokesman said.

The seized contraband has an estimated market value of Rs 6.40 crore. The recovered narcotics were subsequently handed over to the Excise and Narcotics Department in Champhai for further action. Champhai district shares a porous, mountainous international border with Myanmar.

In a separate operation on Wednesday, Assam Rifles seized heroin worth approximately Rs 3.71 lakh and apprehended two persons at Seling in Aizawl district.

Acting on specific intelligence inputs received from its sources and corroborated by Bawngkawn Police Station, Assam Rifles launched an operation that led to the recovery of two soap cases containing 18.54 grams of heroin from a vehicle. The vehicle was also seized.

The two apprehended persons, along with the recovered narcotics and the vehicle, were handed over to Bawngkawn Police Station in Aizawl for further investigation and legal proceedings under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

The operations underscore the importance of actionable intelligence, inter-agency coordination and sustained vigilance in curbing drug trafficking in the region, an official statement said.

In Manipur, state police conducted an anti-drug operation at Valpakot village in Churachandpur district, where a vehicle was intercepted and searched.

The police recovered approximately 7.732 kg of brown sugar, valued at around Rs 15 crore. The driver, identified as Lunminlal Mate, 29, a resident of Longja village in Chandel district, was arrested in connection with the seizure.

The contraband and the vehicle allegedly used to transport the drugs were also seized.

Mizoram and Manipur have emerged as major drug-trafficking corridors in the Northeast, largely because of their long, porous international borders with Myanmar and their proximity to the Golden Triangle, one of the world’s major illicit narcotics-producing regions.

Six districts of Mizoram and five districts of Manipur share a 910-km international border with Myanmar, making the two states particularly vulnerable to cross-border drug smuggling.