Massive Cache of Explosives Seized in Mizoram, One Arrested

Mizoram, Jan 26, 2025, By Our Correspondent28

The Assam Rifles and Mizoram Police, in a joint operation, seized a significant cache of explosives in Mizoram's Aizawl district, officials said on Sunday. Acting on specific intelligence regarding the movement of explosives in the Durtlang Leitan area, the security forces set up a mobile vehicle checkpoint along the Durtlang-Kawnpui road on Saturday night.

During the operation, the team stopped a suspicious vehicle and recovered 7,000 electric detonators of various colors. A 34-year-old man, identified as Runmawia, was apprehended. The seized items and the individual were handed over to Mizoram Police for further investigation.

Authorities suspect that the recovered detonators were likely intended to be smuggled into Myanmar or Bangladesh, raising concerns over the illicit trafficking of explosives in the region.

This incident comes shortly after two other notable operations this month. On January 18, the Assam Rifles and Mizoram Police seized 30 gelatin sticks and 20 detonators from a vehicle near Aijal Club at Khatla Road in Aizawl. The driver, Hmingthansanga, 42, from Hnahthial district, was arrested.

Additionally, on January 15, a large cache of arms and ammunition was intercepted in Saithah village, near the Mamit district bordering Myanmar. The seized items included six AK-47 rifles, over 10,000 cartridges, and 13 magazines. Five individuals, including a top leader of the Myanmar-based insurgent group Chin National Front (CNF), were detained. The arms were reportedly being smuggled for trade between the CNF and the United People's Democratic Front (UPDF-P), an insurgent group active in Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Despite intensified border surveillance by Assam Rifles and the Border Security Force (BSF), Mizoram’s porous 510-km border with Myanmar and 318-km border with Bangladesh remains a hotspot for transnational smuggling of arms and explosives.