Assam Rifles and other law enforcing agencies in separate operations on Thursday seized heroin and Burmese areca nuts worth around Rs 7 crore smuggled in from Myanmar, and arrested seven smugglers, officials said.
Defence sources said that the Assam Rifles troopers, Excise and Narcotics Department, Customs and Mizoram police personnel seized the contrabands from three different locations in three districts — Lunglei, Saitual and Champhai.
The seized drugs, Burmese areca nuts and the arrested persons were handed over to the Mizoram police for further legal action.
An Assam Rifles statement said that smuggling of drugs from Myanmar is a major cause of concern for the state as well as India.
Mizoram’s 510 km unfenced international border with Myanmar, especially in the bordering Champhai district, is a major hotspot of smuggling.
Besides various illicit drugs, foreign cigarettes, gold, arms and ammunition, exotic animals, and areca nuts are often smuggled from Myanmar into the northeastern states, especially Mizoram and Manipur.
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