Guwahati: An office table with a secret compartment and tea packets bearing foreign markings were allegedly used to transport synthetic drugs into the Northeast, revealing the increasingly unconventional methods adopted by cross-border narcotics smugglers.
In two back-to-back operations, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 50 kg of methamphetamine, including 30 kg of Yaba tablets and 20 kg of crystal methamphetamine, in Mizoram and Assam.
Four persons have been arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.
The operations, conducted on October 29 and 30 with assistance from the Assam Rifles, also led to the seizure of three vehicles allegedly used to transport the contraband.
The first interception took place on October 29 on the outskirts of Aizawl along the Aizawl-Champhai road. Acting on intelligence inputs about the movement of narcotics from Zokhawthar towards Aizawl and Silchar, DRI officers intercepted a Mahindra Bolero Camper.
A search of the vehicle led investigators to 30 brick-sized packets containing pinkish-orange tablets weighing 30 kg. The packets had been hidden inside a specially constructed cavity in an office table fitted with a storage cabinet.
The furniture was allegedly being used as cover cargo to make the vehicle appear to be carrying ordinary household or office goods.
A second operation on October 30 led to another seizure in Dholai, around 40 km from Silchar in Assam.
DRI officers, assisted by the Assam Rifles, intercepted an Ashok Leyland truck and a Bolero Camper. A search of the truck resulted in the recovery of 20 packets containing crystal methamphetamine weighing 20 kg.
This time, the concealment method was different. The packets had been hidden above the driver’s cabin and packed inside tea packets bearing foreign markings, apparently to avoid detection.
Field testing indicated the presence of amphetamine in the recovered substance.
Preliminary investigation suggests that the drugs were smuggled from Myanmar, pointing to the continuing challenge of cross-border trafficking of synthetic narcotics in the Northeast.
The latest seizures come against the backdrop of two earlier major methamphetamine seizures of 232 kg and 56 kg in the region.
The successive recoveries have brought renewed attention to the scale of synthetic drug trafficking networks operating along the India-Myanmar border and the routes allegedly used to move consignments further into the country.
The DRI said it was continuing its efforts to identify and dismantle organised narcotics trafficking networks and prevent the spread of synthetic drugs.