Aizawl, July 22 — The Mizoram Police, in a series of coordinated anti‑narcotics operations over the past four days, seized Myanmar‑origin drugs worth an estimated Rs 23.23 crore and arrested 11 drug peddlers, officials said on Wednesday.
A senior police official said that a joint team of the CID (Special Branch) and the Kolasib District Executive Force (DEF) conducted a narcotics operation along a stretch of the National Highway at Khamrang village in Kolasib district on Tuesday.
During the operation, the team recovered and seized 15 kg of suspected methamphetamine tablets, approximately 15 lakh tablets, with an estimated market value of Rs 12 crore. Four alleged drug peddlers were arrested in connection with the seizure. All four are residents of different villages in Kolasib district.
In another operation, a CID (Special Branch) team conducted a raid at the New Look Restaurant in Chanmari Kawn, Aizawl district. During the raid, the team recovered and seized 4.770 kg of suspected methamphetamine tablets valued at approximately Rs 3.82 crore. Three persons, all residents of Sribhumi district (formerly Karimganj) in southern Assam, were arrested in connection with the seizure.
Later on the same day, the CID (Special Branch) team intercepted a vehicle near Delhi Dhaba at Thuampui in Aizawl district and recovered 9.016 kg of suspected methamphetamine tablets valued at around Rs 7.21 crore. The contraband was seized from a vehicle driven by 29‑year‑old Malsawmtluanga, a resident of Zokhawthar, a border town in Champhai district adjoining Myanmar. He was arrested on the spot.
In another joint operation, personnel of the Special Narcotics Police Station and the Assam Rifles recovered and seized 21.330 grams of suspected heroin, valued at more than Rs 5 lakh, at Khatla in Aizawl district.
The heroin was recovered from the possession of an alleged drug peddler, a native of Chhawrtui in Khawzawl district of Mizoram, who was subsequently arrested.
In the fourth joint operation, carried out by the District Special Branch (DSB) of Mizoram Police, Lunglei, in coordination with the Border Security Force (BSF), officials seized six soap cases containing 71.59 grams of heroin, valued at approximately Rs 14.31 lakh, at Sethlun in Lunglei district. Two individuals were arrested in connection with the seizure.
Police have registered five separate cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and launched detailed investigations to identify the source of the contraband, trace the trafficking network and ascertain the involvement of other individuals.
Officials said Mizoram has increasingly emerged as a major drug trafficking corridor in the Northeast due to its long, porous and largely unfenced international border with Myanmar, which forms part of the notorious “Golden Triangle”, one of the world’s largest illicit narcotics‑producing regions.
The state shares a 510‑km unfenced international border with Myanmar and a 318‑km border with Bangladesh, making it particularly vulnerable to cross‑border smuggling of narcotics, wildlife products, arms and other contraband.
The police and other law enforcement agencies have intensified coordinated operations in recent months to dismantle cross‑border drug trafficking networks operating along the international border.