Drugs, contraband valued at Rs 6.71 crore seized in Mizoram, 3 held

Aizawl, Aug 28 (IANS) Two drug peddlers, including a woman, were arrested in Mizoram with four lakh highly addictive Methamphetamine tablets, valued at over Rs 5 crore, officials said on Wednesday. In a separate development, Assam Rifles troopers, in joint operations with other law enforcement agencies, recovered areca nuts (betel nuts) and heroin valued at Rs 1.61 crore in Champhai and Siaha districts on Tuesday and apprehended one man.A Mizoram Police official said that acting on secret information, a team of CID (Special Branch) conducted an operation on Tuesday night and intercepted a goods truck near Kulikawn East Presbyterian Church in Aizawl district. The CID team recovered 39.257 kg (4 lakh tablets) of Methamphetamine tablets valued at Rs 5.10 crore from the vehicle. The drugs were hidden inside 17 electric air coolers which were transported from Zokhawthar in east Mizoram’s Champhai district near the Myanmar border, the official added.Vehicle driver M.C. Lalnunsiama, 34, and his associate Vanlalhruaii, 28, residents of the Champhai and Aizawl districts, respectively, were booked under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and the duo, along with the seized drugs, handed over to Special Narcotics Police Station.Meanwhile, the Assam Rifles, along with the Custom Preventive Force, Champhai, and Excise and Narcotics Department, recovered 130 bags of areca nuts and 127 gms of heroin in Champhai and Siaha.Officials, citing the detainees, said that the Methamphetamine tablets, heroin and areca nuts were smuggled from neighbouring Myanmar. The Methamphetamine tablets contain a mix of methamphetamine and caffeine and are largely misused as high-dosage drugs in Bangladesh and neighbouring countries, besides India.Mizoram shares a 510-km-long unfenced border with Myanmar. Out of the state's 11 districts, most of the smuggling of drugs, explosives and other contraband from Myanmar takes place through Champhai.--IANSsc/vd

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