By Our Correspondent
AIZAWL:
Recently, a huge consignment of drugs was seized by the joint operation team of the Border Security Force (BSF) and Mizoram Excise and Narcotics department (MEND) from Chhimluang in northern Mizoram near the Assam border. However, two scribes from Kolasib have lodged a complaint alleging that the operation carried out by the team is questionable. The two journalists, in their complaint, questioned why police at the border check gate were not alerted about the escaped car which was heading towards Assam.
“As there was something fishy with the whole operation, we request you to initiate an inquiry and find out what actually happened,” the complainants said to the Kolasib district magistrate.
12 kilograms of methamphetamine tablets worth around Rs 2 crores recovered on that day was one of the biggest drug hauls in Mizoram, but it was suspected that larger consignment of the same drug slipped off from the hands of the law enforcement agencies on that day, the complaint to the magistrate stated.
The methamphetamine tablets were recovered near a storehouse at Chhimluang allegedly owned by Shamir Deb (49), a resident of Silchar in Assam’s Cachar district.
Zomuanpuia Tlau, one of the two journalists who submitted the complaint, said, “Some eyewitness saw a car fled off at full speed from the storehouse at the sight of BSF personnel and one bag fell off from the car. It was this bag that contained 12 kilograms of methamphetamine, which was recovered by the BSF and Mizoram police. It was suspected that more bags could be inside the car that escaped.”
In this matter, Shamir Deb and a Myanmar national Zonunmawia (35) were arrested.
They were arrested as they were standing near the storehouse at the time of the recovery of the drugs.
Meanwhile, two Myanmar nationals have been held with 10.256 kilograms of methamphetamine drug in an area close to the Myanmar border in the Champhai district of Mizoram on Sunday.
Mizoram, which shares over 500 km of border with Myanmar, has emerged as a major drug trafficking route originating from Myanmar during the last few years.
Besides heroin, methamphetamine is smuggled into the northeast from Myanmar and then pushed to other states, besides Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Sources from the MEND said seizures of methamphetamine in Mizoram have increased during the last few years.
But as far as they know, there are no Meth users in Mizoram while there is a high demand for heroin.