Assam Rifles and Customs officials, in a joint operation, have seized a consignment of areca nuts, also known as Burmese betel nuts, valued at Rs 1.08 crore in Mizoram, officials said on Saturday.
A defence spokesman said that acting on specific intelligence inputs, a large quantity of areca nuts, contained in 180 bags, was seized at Zote in the Champhai district on Friday.
Valued at Rs 1.08 crore, the areca nuts were smuggled into the state from Myanmar and dumped in a jungle for hiding.
The contraband has been handed over to the Customs Preventive Force in Champhai.
The Champhai district, which shares an unfenced border with Myanmar, is a hotspot for the smuggling of various drugs, foreign cigarettes, areca nuts, arms and ammunition, and exotic animals and their parts. Myanmar’s Chin state is the origin of drug smuggling through six Mizoram districts -- Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Hnahthial, Saitual, and Serchhip.
Large-scale smuggling of areca nuts from Myanmar is seriously affecting farmers in Assam and Tripura, where betel nuts grow in large quantities.
The Assam government, due to illegal imports of areca nuts from Myanmar, had imposed restrictions on the transportation of the product, affecting the ferrying of areca nuts from Tripura to other parts of the country. With the intervention of Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, the standoff regarding the areca nut supply from Tripura to Assam was partially resolved. Saha had brought the issue to the notice of his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma and sought his intervention to ensure smooth transportation of areca nut from Tripura to Assam and other parts of the country. Saha also earlier discussed the matter with Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking smooth transportation and trading of areca nuts grown in Tripura through Assam.
In August last year, during a ministerial-level meeting between Assam and Mizoram on the disputes of inter-state borders, the two states reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining a zero-tolerance policy towards transportation of smuggled areca nuts from neighbouring Myanmar.
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