Aizawl: Mizoram excise and narcotics department officials, in a joint operation with personnel from the Assam Rifles’ Field Intelligence Unit (FIU), seized 1.189 kg of heroin in Ngur village in Champhai district early Thursday, department spokesperson Peter Zohmingthanga said.Zohmingthanga told TOI that the contraband, allegedly smuggled from Myanmar, was seized from Nanglamlian (30), a resident of Bulfek village in Chin state of Myanmar. According to Narcotics Control Bureau rates, the seized contraband is worth Rs 2.37 crore.Nanglamlian was booked under Section 21(c) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, and detained at the Narcotics Station in Champhai for further investigation into the drug network.Drug prices, particularly those of heroin and methamphetamine, have risen sharply due to the anti-drug campaign ‘Operation Jericho’, launched by enforcement agencies in Mizoram on Sept 1 last year. Despite the campaign, at least 54 people have died of drug abuse in the state since January till last Sunday, according to records maintained by the excise and narcotics department.The number of drug-related deaths in Mizoram since 1984, when the first drug death was recorded, has risen to 2,051.
