Aizawl: At least three persons, including a Myanmar national, were arrested in Mizoram for trafficking 70.5 kilograms of highly addictive Methamphetamine tablets worth Rs. 106.67 crore in two separate operations in Mizoram on Friday and Saturday, according to official statements.
During a late-night operation on April 11, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 52.67 kg of Methamphetamine tablets valued at Rs. 52.67 crore in the international drug market after intercepting a Tripura-bound 12-wheeler truck on the outskirts of Aizawl, a statement issued by Press Information Bureau in Delhi said on Sunday.
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Officials uncovered a novel method of concealing and transporting smuggled drugs — they found 53 meticulously packed, brick-sized packets hidden within the folds of the truck’s tarpaulin cover.
The truck, registered in Nagaland, had originated from Zokhawthar—a sensitive border town near the Indo-Myanmar frontier in east Mizoram’s Champhai district—and was enroute to Tripura, it said.
Earlier, the truck transported cement from Meghalaya to Champhai, then continued to Zokhawthar, where smugglers loaded the contraband.
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The packets bore inscriptions such as “3030 Export Only” and “999”, alongside diamond symbols, and contained orange-pink tablets.
Tests conducted using the NDPS Field Test Kit confirmed the tablets contained methamphetamine, the statement said.
Police arrested the truck’s driver and his assistant under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, it said.
Preliminary investigations indicate that smugglers brought the drugs into Mizoram from Myanmar via the Zokhawthar sector.
Another statement issued by Assam Rifles said that they seized 17.9 kilograms of Methamphetamine in Mizoram’s southernmost Lawngtlai district near the Myanmar border during a joint operation by the paramilitary force and state police on Saturday.
The team also arrested a Myanmar national for possessing contraband worth Rs. 54 crore in the international market.
They handed over the seized contraband and the accused to the Bualpui police outpost in Lawngtlai district for further legal proceedings.