Aizawl, Sep 27 (IANS) The Assam Rifles in a successful operation on Saturday foiled an attempt of smuggling of arms, drugs, tobacco products and other contrabands and arrested three Myanmarese nationals in Mizoram, officials said.

An official said that acting on an intelligence input, Assam Rifles soldiers set up a surprise vehicle check on the Tuipang–Zawngling road, about 7 km from Tuipang village in Saiha District. He said that the three China made Kenbo bikes rolled up to the checkpoint.

“What looked like ordinary travellers turned out to be something else. When soldiers checked the bikes, they uncovered a staggering cache — 580 rounds of 12-gauge shotgun cartridges, six precision air rifles, an illuminated optical scope, and 15,000 rounds of air pellets,” the official said.

Alongside the weapons were contraband goods, areca nuts (Mayanmarese betel nut), tobacco tins, locally made liquor, a slab of silicon carbide and cash worth five lakh Kyat (Myanmar currency) hinting at the wide range of cross-border smuggling that flows through Mizoram’s remote hills.

The three men on the bikes — Biehmo (28), Feithaisa (33) and Laibawi (37), all residents of Chin state in Myanmar — were detained on the spot.

Assam Rifles troops have handed them and the seized items to Tuipang Police station for further legal action.

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

A variety of drugs, especially highly addictive methamphetamine tablets, heroin, arms and ammunition, explosives, and different types of contraband, including exotic animals, are often illegally traded through six districts in Mizoram.

These six districts share unfenced borders of 510 km with Myanmar. From Mizoram, these drugs are ferried to other parts of the country and abroad, including Bangladesh, through Assam and Tripura.

–IANS

sc/pgh