In the largest seizure of its kind so far this year, the special narcotics team of the Mizoram Police have seized 42,000 tablets of “party-drug” methamphetamine worth Rs 42 lakhs and arrested two men, one of them a Myanmar national, in Aizawl, a senior investigator said on Thursday.
The seizure and arrests took place on Wednesday night at a hotel in the city and the accused have been presented before a special narcotics court.
Lalrinzuala, 44, and Kawlhmingthanga, 54, were staying at room 119 of Chawlhna Hotel in Aizawl’s Zarkawt area with the consignment — packed in paper cartons and kept inside a large ruck-sack — when police apprehended them and the drugs, a highly-addictive narcotic that till today has no known medical treatment or rehabilitation process.
Kawlhmingthanga, a resident of Tamu near Myanmar’s Tahan township (an urban region in the neighbouring country’s Sagaing Division region), told investigators he received a consignment from Lalrinmawii of Tahan town with instructions that he contact a man named Zairemtluanga in Aizawl and gave him his cellphone number. He was also told he might look for other avenues to sell the narcotic himself and claim a 10 percent commission.
Kawlhmingthanga and Lalrinzuala, an Aizawl local, teamed up to find customers when they were traced by investigators posing as potential buyers. Zairemtluanga remains untraced and police said he might have slipped away during the arrest. Kawlhmingthanga, who said he has seen him twice in earlier transactions, told police he was present nearby at the time.
The arrested men have said the consignment was not meant to be sold in Aizawl but was supposed to be trafficked into Assam.
This is the first methamphetamine seizure made by police this year in Mizoram. Heroin is the more dominant drug in the state with tens of thousands addicted to it currently. There are few known regular methamphetamine users, according to rehabilitation centre staff.