The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has dismantled a Myanmar-linked drug smuggling network after seizing 50 kg of methamphetamine, including Yaba tablets and crystal meth, across two intelligence-led operations in Mizoram and Assam. Four people have been arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, and three vehicles allegedly used to transport the contraband have been impounded, officials said.
Acting on specific intelligence about narcotics being transported from Zokhawthar towards Aizawl and Silchar, DRI officials, with operational assistance from the Assam Rifles, intercepted a Mahindra Bolero Camper on the outskirts of Aizawl along the Aizawl-Champhai Road. The vehicle was stopped as part of the first operation in the coordinated crackdown.
Second haul hidden in tea packets
In the second operation, DRI officials, again assisted by the Assam Rifles, intercepted an Ashok Leyland truck and a Bolero Camper at Dholai, approximately 40 km from Silchar in Assam. A search of the truck yielded 20 packets containing 20 kg of crystal methamphetamine, concealed above the driver’s cabin and packed inside tea packets bearing foreign markings, apparently to evade detection.
Preliminary investigations suggest the drugs were smuggled from Myanmar through India’s northeastern corridor, a route officials describe as well documented for cross-border trafficking. The seizures underline how the corridor continues to be exploited by networks moving narcotics from Myanmar into the Northeast and onwards.
A pattern of escalating seizures
The latest haul follows two recent major methamphetamine seizures by the DRI in the same region, of 232 kg and 56 kg respectively, according to reports. Taken together with the latest 50 kg, the cumulative seizures in this period exceed 338 kg of methamphetamine, reflecting both the scale of the trafficking threat and the intensification of enforcement operations along India’s northeastern frontiers.
The Northeast has seen a string of coordinated anti-narcotics actions in recent weeks. A multi-state operation smashed a narco-cartel network with 18 arrests across Assam, Mizoram and Manipur, and an earlier Assam crackdown seized 17,000 Yaba tablets in Sribhumi. The fresh DRI seizures add to that enforcement picture, but officials acknowledge that seizures alone do not dismantle the networks behind the trade. The investigations now under way will test whether the four arrests lead further up the chain towards the suppliers and financiers behind the Myanmar route.
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