Mizoram Police: No Refugees From Myanmar Detained For Drug Trafficking

AIZAWL: A top state police officer stated on Sunday that there have been no reports of Myanmar refugees being detained for smuggling drugs from Myanmar to Mizoram.

The state-level committee for Myanmar refugees, working through the district and village-level committees, has profiled and issued identity cards to almost all of the approximately 30,000 migrants seeking refuge in the state.

Although some drug and narcotics traffickers may have pretended to be refugees, none of the refugees who received identity cards have been detained or charged with criminal offenses, the police officer informed the media.

No evidence has emerged to support the assertion made by some, including members of the central enforcement agency, that the massive increase in drug trafficking was caused by the Myanmarese refugees who fled their country and sought refuge in Mizoram after a military coup and the subsequent crackdown on anti-coup protests, he said.

Officials from the state home department claimed that practically everyone who was detained for running guns in Mizoram by the Assam Rifles or the state police were professional gun runners taking advantage of the civil strife in the adjacent state.

According to a statement from the Mizoram Police, 1.74 kilograms of heroin worth more than Rs 8.7 crore was recently captured in the state's southern Lunglei district after being targeted by particular information.

The Lunglei District Special Branch (DSB) squad, it was reported, carried out the operation in a region between the Tlawng bridge and Pukpui.

According to the report, the team discovered and seized illegal goods worth Rs. 8.73 crores from the custody of two street vendors, both of whom were from Champhai in the state's eastern region.

They were arrested in accordance with the applicable provisions of the 1985 Narcotics, Drugs, and Psychotropic Substances Act.

The Juvenile Justice Act's Section 78 was also utilised to book the juvenile who was traveling with the two accused, according to the statement.

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