​NCB busts Myanmar-sourced drug racket in Manipur; two arrested with heroin worth Rs 15 crore

The Narcotics Control Bureau has arrested two local men and seized over seven kilograms of heroin in Manipur, busting a trafficking module sourced from Myanmar, officials said on Thursday.

The operation, conducted on Wednesday, led to recovery of a cache of estimated to be worth about Rs 15 crore in the international market, the officials said.

Acting on specific intelligence, officials from Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Imphal zone carried out the operation in coordination with the Assam rifles.

The team intercepted a four-wheeler near the India-Myanmar border and recovered 7.31 kilograms of heroin, the officials said, adding that the contraband was found concealed within 638 plastic soap cases.

According to the officials, preliminary probe indicates that the drugs originated from the Haichin region in Myanmar. The traffickers used dense forest corridors in Manipur to transport the consignment, trying to bypass regular police surveillance and security checkpoints.

The two arrested persons are residents of Churachandpur district, they said.

The NCB officials said heightened vigilance and strict enforcement on traditional trafficking routes between Myanmar and India have forced criminals to abandon conventional corridors. Traffickers are increasingly resorting to difficult forest tracks and riverine routes to evade detection by enforcement agencies, they added.