Aizawl/Agartala: Security and enforcement agencies have tightened their grip on drug trafficking in the Northeast, seizing narcotics worth nearly Rs. 100 crore and arresting 12 suspects — including four Myanmar nationals — in multiple operations within a week, officials said on Sunday.
Assam Rifles, the Border Security Force, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, state Excise departments and police forces carried out coordinated and standalone operations across Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur and Assam.
The seizures include methamphetamine tablets, heroin, cocaine, ganja and foreign-origin cigarettes, according to officials.
Investigators say smuggling networks operating between Myanmar, Mizoram, Tripura and Assam continue to channel narcotics from Myanmar’s Chin state — a major hub for the illegal trade — into India.
In one of the biggest breakthroughs, the Assam Rifles and the Customs Department busted an international syndicate with suspected Pakistan links on November 17.
Two men were arrested in Agartala with 800 grams of high-purity cocaine valued at around Rs. 8 crore.
Officials said the contraband had entered India through Punjab before being moved to the Northeast, from where it was to be routed onward to Bangladesh and Southeast Asia.
Mizoram Police also recorded significant successes, recovering large quantities of methamphetamine tablets and heroin worth Rs. 41.64 crore in separate operations on November 19 and 20.
Three suspects — two from Assam and one from Manipur — were arrested for smuggling the drugs from Myanmar.
Methamphetamine pills — known locally as Yaba or “party tablets” — remain one of the most consumed synthetic narcotics in India and neighbouring countries.
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Mizoram’s long and largely porous borders — 510 km with Myanmar and 318 km with Bangladesh — continue to pose enforcement challenges, officials said.
The Narcotics Control Bureau has repeatedly warned that insurgent groups and organised criminal networks fuel trafficking in the region.
At a regional anti-narcotics conference in Kohima earlier this month, NCB Director General Anurag Garg stressed the need for stronger inter-state coordination and intelligence-sharing, noting that drug abuse prevalence in the Northeast is among the highest in the country.
Amid increased vigilance, the Mizoram government in September launched a special anti-drug drive, with intensified operations planned through December 31, Inspector General of Police H. Ramthlengliana said.
