AIZAWL: The current state of turmoil in Myanmar owing to the ongoing civil war resulted not only in the influx of refugees to Mizoram but also led to a sharp rise in drugs and narcotics trafficking across the 404 km-long highly-porous Mizoram-Myanmar international border, state excise and narcotics department officials said.
A senior official of the excise and narcotics department in Aizawl told TOI that due to easy passage, the price of heroin has drastically come down. “While the street value of a hawng (a package of 12 to 13gm of heroin) was over Rs 80,000 when the border was sealed due to Covid-19 last year, the same can be purchased for Rs 25,000 in Myanmar and sold in Mizoram for Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000,” the official said, adding that the Myanmar administration was too occupied with the civil war to check narcotics trafficking.
He said payment has become easier by using banks or some other channels while the heroin consignments were transported from Myanmar to Mizoram by vehicles even without the knowledge of the drivers. While drug “mules” are still in business where large quantities are involved, a few people in Mizoram are picking up consignments from Myanmar, he said.
Mizoram remained one of the main conduits for narcotics trafficking, admitted the official, adding that smuggling continued through the routes in Bangladesh, Manipur, Assam and Tripura to the western countries. Methamphetamine or “crystal meth” is also being trafficked through Mizoram to Europe and Middle East countries, he said.