Aizawl, March 17 The Assam Rifles, in a joint operation with the officials of the Mizoram Forest Department, recovered 64 kg of Indian pangolin scales, worth Rs 64 lakh, in the state before these could be smuggled out and arrested two smugglers, officials said on Monday.
A defence spokesman said that the Assam Rifles, along with the Forest Department, recovered the scales of the Indian pangolin (Manis Crassicaudata) and apprehended two individuals near Crossing Point Three, Zokhawthar, in Mizoram’s Champhai district on Sunday.
The spokesman said that acting on specific intelligence inputs, an ambush was launched by the paramilitary troops along with officials of the Forest Department, at Zokhawthar along the India-Myanmar border.
During the operation, the joint team intercepted two individuals attempting to smuggle the pangolin scales, packed in five cartons, to neighbouring Myanmar. The individuals were challenged to stop, and a spot check was conducted in the presence of two independent witnesses and Forest Department officials.
The apprehended individuals were identified as Rosiamliana, 40, and Nazarene Thanga, 31, both residents of Zokhawthar. The seized wildlife contraband and the apprehended individuals were handed over to the Forest Department for further investigation and legal proceedings.
The Champhai district, which shares an unfenced border with Myanmar, is a hotspot for smuggling of various drugs, foreign cigarettes, arms and ammunition and exotic animals and their parts. Myanmar’s Chin state makes drug smuggling rampant through six Mizoram districts -- Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Hnahthial, Saitual, and Serchhip. Myanmar, which shares a 1,643 km unfenced border with four northeastern states -- Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, and Mizoram (510 km) -- serves as a key transit point for drugs, particularly heroin and methamphetamine tablets, entering India.
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