Aizawl, June 25 (UNI) A significant cache of ammunition was recovered in a joint operation by the CID (Special Branch) of Mizoram Police and Border Security Force (BSF) near Seling in Saitual district on Tuesday.

According to police sources, the team intercepted a Bolero pickup at a location known as Nuthlawi Kawi, close to Seling village, and seized 3,008 live rounds of 7.62mm calibre ammunition. The vehicle’s driver, identified as 48-year-old Lalawithanga from Zuangtui locality in Aizawl, was taken into custody for questioning.

Initial investigation revealed that the driver had been engaged by an unidentified person from Bungtlang village in Lawngtlai district, bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh. He was reportedly promised Rs 1 lakh for transporting the consignment, of which Rs 15,000 was paid in advance.

The only passenger in the vehicle claimed he was heading to Aizawl for medical treatment, police said. Further interrogation involving intelligence agencies is underway to determine the origins and intended recipients of the ammunition.

Authorities are not ruling out possible links with militant outfits operating in Myanmar, Manipur, or the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) in Bangladesh.

Mizoram, which shares a 404-km porous border with Myanmar and lies adjacent to Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts, remains vulnerable to cross-border arms trafficking. The ongoing conflict in Myanmar, ethnic violence in Manipur, and insurgency in the bordering regions of Bangladesh have turned the state into a strategic corridor for illicit arms movement. UNI ZS SSP