Aizawl: An ambulance was allegedly used as a cover to transport drugs after the Assam Rifles and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized highly addictive methamphetamine tablets worth over Rs 45 crore and arrested three drug peddlers, including a woman, in Mizoram, officials said on Friday.
A senior official said the Assam Rifles and DRI officials seized around 15 kg of methamphetamine tablets, valued at an estimated Rs 45 crore, from a Maruti Suzuki Eeco ambulance near Seling in Mizoram’s Aizawl district.
According to the official, the ambulance was allegedly being used as a cover to evade suspicion and facilitate the transportation of the narcotics. In an attempt to avoid detection, a woman travelling in the ambulance allegedly posed as a patient while the consignment of methamphetamine tablets was being transported.
The seizure was made during a joint operation launched by the Assam Rifles and DRI officials in Aizawl district based on specific intelligence inputs regarding the transportation of the illegal consignment. Acting on the intelligence, the joint team intercepted the ambulance near Sakei Bangla Restaurant at Seling and conducted a thorough search of the vehicle.
During the operation, the security and intelligence officials recovered the consignment of methamphetamine tablets, weighing around 15 kg and valued at approximately Rs 45 crore in the illicit market. Three persons, including a woman, were apprehended in connection with the transportation of the drugs. The ambulance allegedly used for carrying the contraband was also seized.
The recovered narcotic substance, the arrested persons and the vehicle have subsequently been handed over to the DRI, Aizawl, for further investigation and necessary legal action. The accused persons are likely to face action under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, officials said.
The operation is part of the continued efforts by security and enforcement agencies to curb the trafficking of synthetic drugs through Mizoram, which shares an international border with Myanmar and has emerged as an important transit route for narcotics entering the region.
The use of an ambulance to allegedly conceal and transport the drugs highlights the increasingly sophisticated methods being adopted by drug trafficking networks to evade law enforcement agencies, the official statement said.
Officials said further investigation is underway to establish the source of the methamphetamine tablets, identify the intended destination of the consignment and ascertain the involvement of other persons in the drug trafficking network.
Officials said Mizoram has increasingly emerged as a major drug trafficking corridor in the Northeast because of its long unfenced international border with Myanmar, which forms part of the infamous “Golden Triangle” – one of the world’s largest illicit narcotics-producing regions.
The state shares a 510-km unfenced international border with Myanmar and a 318-km border with Bangladesh, making it particularly vulnerable to the cross-border smuggling of narcotics, wildlife products, arms, ammunition and other contraband. Security agencies have intensified surveillance, intelligence gathering and coordinated anti-drug operations across the border districts in recent months to curb the growing menace of transnational narcotics trafficking and other organised cross-border crimes.
(IANS)
