Aizawl, May 3 : The Assam Rifles and the Mizoram Police, in three separate joint operations, have seized heroin, foreign cigarettes, and a consignment of explosives, officials said on Friday.

Assam Rifles officials said that acting on a tip-off, the para-military troopers and police conducted a joint operation at Falkland, near Aizawl, arrested two drug peddlers, and recovered 598 grams heroin, valued at Rs 4.18 crore from them, on Thursday night.

In another raid, the security personnel apprehended one person and recovered 22,000 packets of foreign cigarettes valued at Rs 16 lakh from Lungpuk in Siaha district on Thursday evening.

In the third operation, the Assam Rifles and the police seized 1,622 gelatin sticks (approx 200 kg) and 200 detonators, along with one vehicle, at Silaimul, near Aizawl and apprehended one person on Thursday.

Mizoram Police, in collaboration with the members of the Young Mizo Association (YMA), also seized eight fully loaded trucks of dried areca nuts smuggled from Myanmar at Seling in Saitual district, a police official said adding that ten people have been arrested in connection with the seizure.

Official sources said that the Assam Rifles, which guards the 510 km India-Myanmar border in Mizoram, have stepped up their efforts against illegal drug trafficking and smuggling of various contraband substances from across the border.

/IANS