Tripura Police seize drugs worth Rs 30 crore, three peddlers arrested

The smuggling of drugs from Myanmar into India's northeastern states continues unabated, with Tripura Police seizing narcotics worth over Rs 30 crore in the past 48 hours and arresting three drug peddlers, officials said on Tuesday.

An official stated that police in Dhalai district intercepted a truck carrying 9.24 lakh Yaba tablets worth Rs 28 crore and arrested the driver and his assistant, both residents of Assam.

Dhalai Superintendent of Police Mihir Lal Das said the Agartala-bound truck, coming from Assam, was stopped at a checkpoint in Ambassa. Upon inspection, the highly addictive Yaba tablets, also known as methamphetamine pills, were found concealed inside the truck’s oil tanker. The arrested individuals are being interrogated to identify the key figures behind the drug trafficking network, he added.

Earlier on Monday, Tripura Police had intercepted another vehicle in North Tripura district, recovering 50,000 Yaba tablets worth Rs 2.5 crore from a hidden compartment and arresting the driver.

Chief Minister Manik Saha, who also holds the Home and Health portfolios, lauded the police for their efforts in curbing drug smuggling.

Police officials revealed that interrogations of the arrested drivers indicated the drugs were smuggled from Myanmar via Mizoram and Assam before entering Tripura, en route to 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.