The Mizoram police, on Monday, seized 447 grams of heroin from a woman and arrested her in the Lunglei district in the state.
According to reports, the value of the seized heroin is estimated to be Rs 17.50 lakhs. The drug is suspected to have been smuggled from Myanmar.
The woman accused has been identified as Lalawmpuii who has a history of being involved in large scale trafficking of drugs.
The police officials said that they had been trying to catch Lalawmpuii for a long time as she was found to be involved in drug trafficking in the southern parts of the state.
The State Excise and Narcotics Department records reveal at least 1,468 people have died from substance abuse in Mizoram since the year 1984.
The officials of the State Excise and Narcotics Department had seized around 6.035 kilograms of heroin, 13,400 Methamphetamine tablets and 1,59,471 tablets of pseudo-ephedrine during several raids conducted by the department from various parts of the State in 2017.
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The department also seized 392 kilogramme of ganja (cannabis) and destroyed 4,127 ganja plants.
In 2017, Mizoram conducted the Baseline Survey on Extent and Pattern of Drug Use in the State, the first-of-its-kind complete survey, has revealed many shocking facts about drug abuse in the state.
The survey revealed that 81.6 per cent of drug users were jobless while 32 per cent drug users among males had permanent jobs. Among the female drug users, 12.9 per cent sold drugs and 33 per cent were commercial sex workers.
Pharmaceutical opioids are the most commonly abused drugs in Mizoram, followed by heroin, sedative drugs and inhalants or volatile solvents.