Guwahati: The Assam Rifles soldiers on Wednesday confiscated a sizable number of cigarettes with a foreign origin worth Rs 2.47 crore in the Champhai district of Mizoram.
On Wednesday, the Serchhip Battalion of the 23 Sector Assam Rifles, working under the supervision of Inspector General Assam Rifles (East), discovered 190 cases of cigarettes of foreign origin worth Rs 2.47 crore in the New Zotlang neighbourhood of the Champhai district.
Based on precise intelligence, an Assam Rifles and Custom Preventive Force, Champhai joint squad conducted the operation.
According to a senior Assam Rifles official, the Assam Rifles team found the things that had been abandoned in the New Zotlang region.
The recovered cigarettes with foreign origin are estimated to have cost Rs 2.47 crore.
“The Assam Rifles team recovered the items which were dumped in the Zotlang area. The approximate cost of the recovered foreign-origin cigarette is Rs 2,47,00,000. The seized items were handed over to the Customs department, Champhai for further legal proceedings,” the official said.
The continued smuggling of cigarettes of foreign origin is a significant source of worry for the state of Mizoram, particularly along the border with Myanmar and India.
The Assam Rifles, who are appropriately known as the “Sentinels of the Northeast,” have kept up their efforts to stop illegal activities in Mizoram.