Aizawl, Aug 25 : Altogether 460 foreigners, including 439 Myanmar nationals, have been arrested in Mizoram for committing various crimes in the five years till May 2025, police said.
Narcotic substances, including heroin, methamphetamine, crystal ‘meth’ and ganja (cannabis), worth Rs 770.95 crore were also seized by the state police alone during the period.
According to police data accessed by PTI, a total of 15,673 people, including 14,432 locals and 781 from other states, were arrested in different criminal cases during the same period.
“As many as 460 foreign nationals have also been arrested for different crimes, including drugs and arms trafficking, child sexual abuse, forgery, burglary, theft and violation of visa norms,” it said.
Of the 460 foreign nationals, 439 were from Myanmar, 18 from Bangladesh and three from other countries, the data said.
The highest arrest of foreign nationals was made in 2022, a year after a military coup in Myanmar, during which 124 people were apprehended, followed by 106 in 2023 and 89 in 2024, the data said.
In the current year alone, 57 foreigners, including 53 Myanmarese, have been arrested so far, it said.
Of the 15,673 people held on charges of crimes, 1,666 were arrested for allegedly smuggling narcotic substances, while 254 were booked under the Arms Act and Explosive Substances Act.
Theft remained the biggest offence with 5,495 cases registered and 3,704 people arrested, followed by burglary, which recorded 4,686 cases and 2,917 arrests during the period, it said.
The data suggested that 1,694 people have been arrested under the Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition) Act, which bans the manufacture, sale and consumption of liquor in the state, it said.
Among the arrested Myanmar nationals, 185 were booked for drug smuggling cases, followed by 66 for visa norm violation, 43 for arms and explosive smuggling, 40 for theft and burglary and nine each were arrested for murder and child sexual abuse, the data said.
Barring four Bangladesh nationals, who were arrested under the Arms Act and Explosive Substances Act, all other foreigners were held under the Foreigners Act, it said.
Mizoram has been grappling with the menace of drug trafficking from Southeast Asian countries, particularly Myanmar, and the police data showed a continuous increase in the seizure of narcotic substances, particularly from 2023.
The total value of different types of drugs seized by the state police in 2022 stood at Rs 43.43 crore, Rs 189.66 crore in 2023 and Rs 211.63 crore in 2024, the data said.
The state police also seized drugs worth over Rs 106.56 crore in just five months between January and May this year, it said.
The value of recovered drugs was estimated at Rs 167.82 crore and Rs 51.83 crore in 2020 and 2021, respectively. (PTI)
