Aizawl/Imphal: Security forces have made one of the biggest anti-narcotics breakthroughs in recent weeks, seizing drugs worth more than Rs. 143 crore and arresting three people in coordinated operations across Mizoram and Manipur within the past 24 hours, officials said on Thursday.
In Mizoram’s Champhai district, Assam Rifles troops, acting on specific intelligence, intercepted a consignment near Zote village, close to the unfenced Myanmar border, on Wednesday night.
Although the suspect managed to flee into nearby forests, the operation led to the recovery of 34.2 kg of methamphetamine tablets valued at over Rs. 102 crore.
Later the same night, a joint team of Assam Rifles and the Territorial Army intercepted a suspected peddler at Zemabawk in Aizawl district.
The individual, identified as 25-year-old Lalchchuanmawia of Champhai, was found with 12 grams of heroin worth Rs. 8.4 lakh. Both the narcotics and the accused were handed over to Mizoram’s Excise and Narcotics Department.
In a separate operation, Assam Rifles seized 2.46 kg of heroin worth Rs. 20.1 crore from Thingluang Kai in Champhai district, further tightening the crackdown on cross-border trafficking networks.
Meanwhile, in Manipur’s Tengnoupal district, two drug couriers were arrested during routine checks at Naka outpost.
In the first case, Md Nousad (21) of Kakching district was caught with 10.8 kg of methamphetamine tablets worth Rs. 30 crore.
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Hours later, Hengougin Haokip (23) of Kangpokpi district was apprehended with 125 grams of brown sugar valued at over Rs. 10 crore.
Officials said the series of seizures underscores the scale of narco-trafficking through the porous Indo-Myanmar border, with Champhai and Tengnoupal emerging as key transit points.
Mizoram alone shares 510 km of unfenced border with Myanmar, making it a hotspot for smuggling meth tablets, heroin, contraband goods, and even exotic wildlife.
The crackdown comes just weeks after Mizoram launched a four-month special anti-drug campaign on September 1, aimed at dismantling trafficking networks and curbing the rising menace of narcotics in the region.
