US dollars meant for arms seized in Mizoram

A man was arrested and $48,700, meant for buying illegal arms from Myanmar, were seized during an operation by security agencies along the Assam-Mizoram border, police said here Sunday.

The operation was conducted by Assam Rifles along with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) at Zanlawn village in Kolasib district, which shares inter-state boundary with Assam's Cachar and Hailakandi districts.

"Assam Rifles jawans and DRI officials detained a vehicle in Kolasib district Friday night and seized $48,700. The man, Khuplianthanga, who was carrying the foreign currency, was also arrested," a Mizoram Police official said.

A cell phone containing telephone numbers of several Myanmar nationals was also recovered from the 42-year-old Khuplianthanga, a resident of Mizoram.

After preliminary interrogation of the man, the Assam Rifles and DRI officials confirmed that he was carrying the US dollars to make payment for an illegal arms consignment from Myanmar.

On several occasions earlier, huge number of arms were recovered and foreign nationals were arrested in different parts of Mizoram, which shares an unfenced international border of 404 km with Myanmar and 318 km with Bangladesh.

Border Security Force troopers along with Mizoram Police, during a routine search operation Thursday, arrested five tribals, including two Bangladeshis. A huge cache of arms and ammunition were also recovered.