BSF seizes narcotics tablets worth Rs 40 crore in Mizoram

Aizawl: The Border Security Force has seized four lakh tablets of the drug Yaba, also known as 'crazy medicine', worth around Rs 40 crore along the India-Bangladesh border in Mizoram, officials said Friday.

Troops of the border guarding force undertook a joint operation with the special narcotics police of the state government on Thursday and intercepted a truck on National Highway six in the Seling town of the Aizawl district.

"The interception was made on a specific intelligence input," a senior BSF officer said.

A total of 40 packets containing four lakh Methamphetamine tablets (Yaba) were seized from the ceiling of the truck driver's cabin. The cache of drugs is estimated to be worth Rs 40 crore in the international market, the officer said.

Yaba has many names such as 'crazy medicine' in Thai, 'madness drug' or 'Nazi speed'. It is a combination of stimulants, the most important being methamphetamine and caffeine.

According to anti-narcotics officials, it is manufactured in chemical laboratories based in Myanmar using raw material sourced from China and is smuggled to Bangladesh from its other borders or through India.

The drug is consumed in many ways like by smoking it off a tinfoil, the 'chasing the dragon' technique of inhaling its fumes by heating on an aluminium foil, taken orally or crushed and snorted.

Officials say the drug is especially targeted towards the youths and its abuse leads to anxiety, and aggression while prolonged exposure may cause varied levels of damage to the kidneys, heart, liver and brain.

Bangladesh has come down heavily on Yaba peddlers and syndicates over the last few years by arresting and neutralising many such operatives and at every bilateral meeting, they seek active assistance from the Indian authorities to curb its smuggling, an anti-narcotics agency officer said.

The BSF guards the 4,096 km India-Bangladesh border on India's east and Mizoram shares 318 km out of this entire length.

The Mizoram and Cachar Frontier of the force headquartered at Silchar in Assam is entrusted with guarding the international border running along Mizoram and in some parts of Assam.

According to official data, this frontier has seen the seizure of more than 6,29,880 Yaba tablets this year till now.