Drugs worth Rs 1.20 crore seized in Mizoram, two women held

Aizawl, June 22 (IANS) Involvement of women in smuggling of drugs has increased in Mizoram as Assam Rifles and other law-enforcing agencies arrested two more women and recovered heroin worth Rs 1.20 crore, officials said on Sunday.

A defence spokesman said that acting on specific intelligence, a joint operation was launched by the Assam Rifles and officials of the Excise and Narcotics Department on Saturday night at Zotlang areas in Champhai district, which shares an unfenced border with Myanmar. The team intercepted two suspicious women while conducting a thorough search and recovered heroin weighing 161.200 grams valued at Rs 1.20 crore.

In another incident, on the basis of reliable sources regarding the movement of unaccounted cash Melbuk areas in the same Champhai district, the Assam Rifles and Mizoram Police launched a joint operation and intercepted a Bolero vehicle. The para-military troops and the Mizoram Police recovered unaccounted cash of Rs 21,88,500 from the vehicle. The driver of the vehicle was also arrested. The recovered drugs, cash amount and the three arrested individuals were handed over to the Excise and Narcotics Department and the Mizoram Police, respectively.

Earlier on June 20, the Assam Rifles troops had arrested two women with 39.2 grams of heroin valued at Rs 29.4 lakh from eastern Mizoram’s Champhai district.

Different types of drugs, including methamphetamine tablets and heroin, are often smuggled from Myanmar and illegally ferried to various parts of India and Bangladesh through the northeastern states. Myanmar, which shares a 1,643 km unfenced border with four northeastern states -- Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, and Mizoram -- serves as a key transit point for drugs and other contrabands entering India.

However, heightened vigilance maintained by the security personnel and law enforcement agencies often leads to seizure of drugs and arrest of smugglers, and others involved in smuggling/transporting the drugs. Myanmar's Chin state is a hub for smuggling of varied drugs, exotic wildlife animals and many other contrabands.

--IANS

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