Drugs worth Rs 31 cr smuggled from Myanmar seized in Mizoram, 5 arrested

Aizawl, June 12 In the largest ever narcotics seizure in the recent past in Mizoram, heroin valued at Rs 31 crore smuggled from Myanmar was seized and five drug peddlers were arrested, officials said on Monday.

Officials said that the Excise and Narcotics Department officials raided two locations in Aizawl and seized 6.05 kg of the drug in the past 24 hours.

The officials seized 5.8 kg of heroin from a truck in Zemabawk locality of Aizawl and over 248 gm of heroin was seized from city's Bawngkawn are.

N. Ngolang, a 55-year-old drug peddler from Tahan area of Myanmar, was arrested from Bawngkawn, while Md Nazimul Hussain Barbhuiya (34), Abdul Kalam Laskar (23), Kutbul Alom Laskar (28) and Sukur Ali Mazumder (22), all residents of Assam's Cachar district, were detained from Zemabawk.

Last week, Mizoram Police had arrested two Assam residents and 3 kg of heroin worth Rs 15 crore seized from their possession.

According to the Excise and Narcotics Department officials, the heroin was smuggled from Myanmar.

Mizoram's 510 km unfenced international border with Myanmar, especially in the bordering Champhai district, is a major hotspot of smuggling.

Besides various illicit drugs, foreign cigarettes, a variety of other contrabands like gold, as well as arms and ammunition, exotic animals, and areca nuts are often smuggled from Myanmar into the northeastern states, especially Mizoram and Manipur.

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