IBNS-CMEDIA: In two major operations carried out recently in the Northeast, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized nearly 60,000 kg of smuggled foreign-origin areca nuts.
Acting on specific intelligence inputs, the DRI’s Guwahati Zonal Unit conducted coordinated operations in Mizoram and Assam, leading to the large-scale seizures, the Indian government said in an official statement.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the foreign-origin dried areca nuts had been smuggled into India from Myanmar through the porous Myanmar-Mizoram border.
In one of the operations, DRI officials were assisted by the 38 Battalion of the Assam Rifles.
So far, five people have been arrested in connection with the smuggling racket.
Authorities said the illegal influx of areca nuts from the neighbouring country is causing significant economic losses to domestic areca nut growers and undermining economic security in India’s border regions.
