Aizawl, Oct 17 In an intensified operation against drugs smuggling before the November 7 assembly election in Mizoram, the Assam Rifles on Tuesday seized drugs valued at around Rs 45 crore in the state's Champhai district, an official said.
A drug smuggler, a resident of Champhai district, was also arrested in connection with the recovery of the contraband.
Assam Rifles sources said that acting on secret information, the para-military troopers accompanied by Mizoram police recovered 1.50 lakh highly addictive methamphetamine tablets (weighing 17.085 kg) valued at Rs 45 crore from an abandoned house at Zokawthar, bordering Myanmar.
The drugs, also known as Yaba tablets or party tablets, have been handed over to Zokhawthar police station for further legal proceedings.
With this recovery of the drugs on Tuesday, Assam Rifles personnel, who have been guarding Mizoram's 510 km border with Myanmar, have recovered a total of Rs 102.2 crore worth of methamphetamine tablets during the past four days in Mizoram. The Election Commission issued several directives to the Central and state law-enforcing agencies to further intensify their efforts to prevent smuggling from the neighbouring countries or to seize the illegally imported drugs, contrabands and nab the smugglers.
Tripura's border with Bangladesh and Mizoram and Manipur's unfenced frontier with Myanmar have become an easy corridor for drugs smuggling in northeast India.
Besides various illicit drugs, foreign cigarettes, gold, arms and ammunition, exotic animals, and areca nuts are often smuggled from Myanmar into the northeastern states.
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