4 days ago
CRPF seizes 160 cartons of foreign cigarettes in Golaghat
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Dibrugarh: The 142 battalion of Central Reserve Police Force (
CRPF
) on Saturday seized 160 cartons of foreign cigarettes worth lakhs of rupees, during an anti-smuggling operation, near the Assam-Nagaland border, at Merapani in Golaghat.
The cigarettes from China, Indonesia and South Korea were being smuggled into Assam via Nagaland, through Myanmar.
"Based on specific intelligence that a huge quantity of foreign cigarettes were being transported from Nagaland to Assam in a truck, our team initiated tracking operations from Friday night. We successfully intercepted the truck on Saturday morning and recovered the cigarettes," said a CRPF official.
The seized consignment included 82 cartons of Chinese Win cigarettes, 49 cartons of Indonesian Gudang Garam cigarettes and 29 cartons of South Korean Esse Lights cigarettes.
Following the seizure, senior police officials from both Assam and Nagaland were immediately informed. Golaghat senior superintendent of police Rajen Singh and Wokha district SP Aotula T Imchem were briefed about the operation and the recovery of the cigarettes.
The truck, along with its entire consignment and the driver, has been handed over to Golaghat police for further investigation and legal proceedings.
"This is not an isolated incident. We have intercepted multiple such consignments in the past. The syndicates, who are involved in this, exploit the difficult terrain and weak border monitoring to carry out these operations," a senior police official said.
The illicit trade poses multiple concerns for law enforcement agencies. Besides loss of tax revenue, cigarette smuggling networks often interconnect with other criminal activities including arms and drug trafficking.
