Week-long anti-drug ops in Northeast yield Rs 100 Cr seizure, 12 held

Aizawl/Agartala, Nov 23: Law enforcement agencies, including the Assam Rifles and the BSF, have intensified their crackdown on narcotics smuggling, seizing drugs worth nearly Rs 100 crore and arresting 12 peddlers, among them four Myanmar nationals, over the past week, officials said on Sunday.

According to officials, the Assam Rifles, Border Security Force (BSF), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), and Excise and Narcotics Departments of Mizoram and Tripura, along with police forces in Mizoram, Manipur, and Assam, carried out multiple joint and individual operations. These raids led to the seizure of methamphetamine tablets, heroin, cocaine, dry ganja, and foreign-origin cigarettes from different parts of the Northeast.

Investigators said a well-established network involving traffickers from Mizoram, Tripura, Assam, and Myanmar has been running the illegal trade, with Myanmar’s Chin State functioning as the primary hub.

In a major breakthrough on November 17, the Assam Rifles and Customs Department busted an international drug syndicate with links to Pakistan. The joint operation in Tripura led to the recovery of 800 grams of high-grade cocaine, valued at around Rs 8 crore, and the arrest of two traffickers.

A Customs official said the operation followed actionable intelligence about a cross-border syndicate that had allegedly been smuggling high-purity cocaine into India through the Punjab–Pakistan border, operating its network across multiple states.

He added that the syndicate transported the contraband via surface routes to Tripura and other Northeastern states for further smuggling into Bangladesh and Southeast Asian countries through Mizoram.

Following actionable input in the Tripura sector, a joint operation was launched on November 17, during which two Indian nationals were apprehended in Agartala with 800 grams of high-purity cocaine.

The arrested drug peddlers are inhabitants of Bishalgarh in the bordering Sepahijala district. In another major drug haul, the Mizoram Police seized huge quantities of methamphetamine tablets and heroin, valued together at Rs 41.64 crore, in separate operations on November 19 and 20.

A police statement said that two drug peddlers from Assam and another from Manipur were arrested for possessing the drugs smuggled from Myanmar.

Among the drugs, the methamphetamine tablets, also known as Yaba or party tablets, contain a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine, and are the most popular drugs in India, Bangladesh and neighbouring countries.

The methamphetamine tablets, banned in India, are also commonly referred to as the 'crazy drug'. Mizoram shares 510 km and 318 km unfenced border with Myanmar and Bangladesh, respectively.

Myanmar's Chin state is a hub for the smuggling of varied drugs, exotic wildlife animals and many other contraband through six Mizoram districts -- Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Hnahthial, Saitual and Serchhip.

Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Director General Anurag Garg, addressing the Regional Conference of Heads of Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) of Northeastern states and West Bengal earlier this month in Kohima, had said that the major influx of heroin and other narcotic drugs into the Northeastern states comes from Myanmar.

IANS