Illegal Myanmar made cigarettes seized in Assam 

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMarch 16, 2024

Police in Assam’s Karbi Anglong seized over 30,000 illegal Burmese cigarettes valued at Rs 6 lakh from a truck at Khatkhati exposing the spike in smuggling of contraband goods between Myanmar and India’s northeastern region.

Based on specific information, a police team from Khatkhati police station recovered the consignment from a container truck bearing registration number NL01AG 8250 from Khatkhati in Karbi Anglong district on Saturday morning.

“Today while performing routine naka checking duty on NH-39 near SBI branch Khatkhati at about 1 am one container vehicle bearing registration number NL01AG-8250 which was coming from Manipur and heading towards Kolkata was intercepted,” said a senior police official.

During the search, the police team found one secret chamber above the chamber of the load container. However, the vehicle has been kept at the Naka checking point due to insufficient light. And this morning while the vehicle was checked there were 3,270 packets of Esse light cigarettes which were kept concealed inside the secret chamber,” he said. 

“The consignment has been seized as per procedure in the presence of witnesses and also apprehended the driver and helper of the vehicle Minhaj Ahmed and Jahir Uddin,” he added. 

The driver Minhaz Ahmed, who is from Doboka in Hojai district, owns the vehicle. He brought the consignment from Churachandpur in Manipur and was to be handed over to an individual in Kolkata.