Cachar: 8,493 kg of poppy seeds worth Rs 1.27 crore seized near Lailapur

A joint team of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Customs has seized 8,493 kg of poppy seeds valued at about Rs 1.27 crore in Assam's Cachar district, The Times of India reported on Sunday, citing officials.

The quick action team of the CRPF's 147 Battalion and the Silchar Customs Preventive Force made the seizure near the Lailapur police outpost on Saturday, October 31.

Truck intercepted on a tip-off

Acting on inputs, the team stopped a truck and found 149 bags of poppy seeds. Officials put the value of the consignment at Rs 1,27,39,500.

The driver, a resident of Katigorah in Cachar district, was detained for questioning. The truck and a mobile phone were seized.

Officials said they were trying to trace where the consignment came from and where it was headed. They are also examining its transport documents to see whether customs rules were broken. Further investigation is under way to identify others involved in moving the goods, the report said.

Why poppy seeds are seized

Poppy seeds, widely used in cooking, are a "Restricted" item under India's Foreign Trade Policy. Imports are allowed only under set conditions, including sourcing from designated countries and registering import contracts with the Narcotics Commissioner in Gwalior. Consignments without valid import papers can be seized under the Customs Act, 1962.

Second big haul on the same route

Lailapur, on the Assam-Mizoram border, has turned up such consignments before. On September 22, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officers, with the 38 Battalion of Assam Rifles, intercepted two trucks near Lailapur carrying 290 bags with 16,257 kg of foreign-origin poppy seeds worth about Rs 2.43 crore. Four people were arrested in that case, according to a government press release.

In a linked operation on September 23-24, the DRI searched three godowns near Ruantlang village in Mizoram's Champhai district, about 20 km from the Myanmar border, and seized 1,25,680 kg of suspected foreign-origin areca nuts and 25,440 kg of poppy seeds. The agency said the goods had been smuggled in from Myanmar and called the areca nut haul one of the largest of its kind in the North East in recent years.

Officials have not said whether the latest consignment was of foreign origin. That will depend on the probe into its documents and route.