Aizawl, Aug 7 The Assam Rifles and Mizoram Police have seized heroin and foreign cigarettes worth more than Rs 9.47 crore and arrested one person in two separate operations in Mizoram's Champhai district, officials said on Thursday.
A defence spokesman said that based on specific intelligence inputs, Assam Rifles launched a joint operation with Mizoram Police officials in Champhai on Wednesday night.
The Champhai police check the gate bordering Myanmar.
On conducting a thorough search, the joint team recovered 1.053 kg of heroin valued at Rs 8.58 crore from a drug peddler.
The recovered drugs and apprehended person have been handed over to the Mizoram Police for taking further legal action.
In another operation, based on specific intelligence, Assam Rifles during a search operation on Thursday in the Chhungte areas of the same Champhai district.
During the search operations, the para-military team recovered 69 cases and 10 loose cartons of foreign cigarettes valued at Rs 89.96 lakh.
The recovered items have been handed over to the Champai Legal Metrology Department.
Officials said that both the heroin and foreign cigarettes were smuggled from the neighbouring Myanmar.
Myanmar's Chin State has emerged as a major hub for drug trafficking, wildlife smuggling, and other illicit activities.
The contraband is often routed through six districts in Mizoram -- Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Hnahthial, Saitual, and Serchhip -- which share unfenced borders of 510 km with Myanmar.
Meanwhile, Assam Rifles have been conducting awareness campaigns like seminars and group discussions highlighting the bad effects of the drugs and drugs trafficking are a punishable offence under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.
The defence spokesman said that the aim of these awareness campaigns is to educate the local population, especially the youth, about the harmful effects of drug abuse and the serious legal consequences associated with drug trafficking and peddling.
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