Mizoram: Security forces seize drugs valued at Rs 66.31 crore

The Assam Rifles in association with Mizoram Police in two separate joint operations have seized huge quantities of drugs worth Rs 66.31 crore from bordering Champhai district, which shares unfenced border with Myanmar and a hotspot of drugs smuggling, officials said on Sunday.

A defence spokesman said that Assam Rifles along with Police personnel have seized highly addictive Methamphetamine tablets weighing 20.20 kg valued at Rs 60.62 crore from Crossing Point One, Zokhawthar in Champhai district on Saturday. The team received credible input regarding trafficking of a large consignment of drugs into India near the Myanmar Border.

The team intercepted and seized the consignment and subsequently handed it over to the Police department for further legal proceedings. None was arrested in this connection.

Assam Rifles along with Mizoram Police have seized heroin weighing 492 grams worth Rs 3.69 from the World Bank Road in the same Zokhawthar of Champhai district. The drugs were being carried by two persons on a scooter.

Upon being challenged by the Assam Rifles troops, the suspects fled from the spot leaving the consignment behind. The entire consignment was taken into custody by the Police Department for further investigation and legal proceedings.

Mizoram shares a 510 km-long unfenced border with Myanmar’s Chin state, which makes drug smuggling rampant through its six districts - Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Hnahthial, Saitual, and Serchhip. Champhai district is the hotspot of drug smuggling from Myanmar.

Various drugs, after being smuggled from Myanmar, come to Tripura via Mizoram and Assam, en route to neighbouring Bangladesh.

Mizoram shares a 510 km-long unfenced border with Myanmar’s Chin state, which makes drug smuggling rampant through its six districts: Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Hnahthial, Saitual, and Serchhip. Myanmar, which shares a 1,643 km unfenced border with four northeastern states -- Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), Manipur (398 km), Nagaland (215 km), and Mizoram (510 km) -- serves as a key transit point for drugs, particularly heroin and methamphetamine tablets, entering India.

From the northeastern states, these drugs are further smuggled into Bangladesh, which shares a 1,880 km border with Tripura (856 km), Meghalaya (443 km), Mizoram (318 km), and Assam (263 km).

While a significant portion of the India-Bangladesh border is fenced, the India-Myanmar border remains entirely open, facilitating illicit trafficking.