Manipur town bordering Myanmar emerges smuggling hotspot

 By Iboyaima Laithangbam

State has become a conduit for contraband goods including sophisticated weapons

Police commandos led by SP Shrey Vats on Thursday arrested a van driver and seized 18 bars of gold, believed to have been smuggled in from Myanmar. The arrest took place at the Pallel police station in Kakching district. The gold bars weighed 166 gm each.

The driver, identified as Prakash Khetri (23) from Moreh town bordering Myanmar, said he had smuggled the gold bars from his hometown in Tengnoupal district. Khetri and the seized gold bars have been handed over to the customs department for necessary action.

The police said the van coming from the border town was intercepted and searched based on intelligence received on gold smuggling.

Apart from drugs, gold and precious stones are also being smuggled through Manipur which has become a conduit for all kinds of contraband goods including sophisticated weapons.

On Wednesday evening, a combined team of police personnel from the 43 Assam Rifles had made a significant arrest of three drug traffickers from Assam, police sources said. Brown sugar worth ₹1.44 crore in the international market was recovered from them, who were identified as Sahidur Aslam, Alimuddin Khan and Alam Ali. Hailing from Karimganj district of Assam, they are reported to have come to Moreh to buy drugs.

They are said to have confessed to procuring the substance from a tribal drug trafficker and Moreh resident Peter Khambilien who was also nabbed. All of them have been handed over to the Moreh police.

Also on Thursday, the police recovered 684 gm brown sugar packed inside 60 concealed soap cases from a jeep coming from Moreh at the Kondong Lairembi checkpost. The alleged traffickers were travelling from Moreh towards Assam.

Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren SIngh expressed happiness over the seizure of drugs and the arrests in the State in the past few days. Apart from coming down on drug smuggling, the Manipur government has taken measures to destroy poppy plants grown in the hill areas.