District strategic to India-Myanmar road project emerges as ‘new trafficking route’ for weapons into Mizoram

Weapons sized twice this month in Lawngtlai. Security agencies on alert even as anti-junta leader denies role of Chin groups in smuggling or colluding with armed groups in Manipur.

Ammunition seized by security personnel on 11 September in Mizoram | By Special Arrangement

Guwahati: Trafficking of arms and ammunition from Myanmar into Mizoram is posing a significant threat to national security, with the southwestern district of Lawngtlai emerging as the “new trafficking route”, ThePrint has learnt.

Geographically located in the tri-junction of India, Myanmar and Bangladesh, Lawngtlai is under the lens of security agencies after counter-smuggling operations as recently as 11 and 15 September led to the confiscation of illegal arms and ammunition. 

Weapons, narcotics as well as wildlife products trafficked from Myanmar flow through established smuggling routes in Champhai and Zokhawthar towns, and Siaha district, to an extent. 

While there have been massive hauls since the Myanmar military coup in February 2021, the arrest of Indian and Myanmar nationals from Lawngtlai district on charges of trafficking arms has raised security concerns. 

Reports from the ground also indicate that smuggling of weapons and war-like stores along the Indo-Myanmar border has increased since the Manipur ethnic conflict in May, according to the sources in the security establishment. 

Mizoram shares a 510-km international border with Myanmar, and a 95-km border with riot-stricken Manipur. It also shares an international boundary with Bangladesh. 

According to security sources in Aizawl, 37 Myanmar nationals, many from Chin State, were arrested in counter-smuggling operations from 1 January to 18 September. A total of 17 firearms and 4,778 rounds of ammunition, 125 quintal of explosives and 803 detonators were recovered in joint operations by Mizoram Police and Assam Rifles. 

The recovered weapons range from Chinese-made AK series to sniper capable rifles, they told ThePrint.

“The longer the Manipur ethnic conflict continues, more people are likely to take up arms in the region,” said a security analyst in Imphal. 

Last year, 60 weapons were confiscated and 42 Myanmar nationals plus 77 Indians apprehended, defence sources in Aizawl told ThePrint.  

The outbreak of armed conflicts in the neighbouring countries and people fleeing across borders have added to concerns about cross-border networks and smuggling. 

Hundreds from Myanmar have fled due to clashes between the Myanmar forces and the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic armed group, in Paletwa Township of Chin State. 

A similar situation has emerged in Chittagong Hill Tracts in southeastern Bangladesh involving the insurgent Kuki Chin National Army (KCNA) and the Bangladeshi forces. 

Many of these displaced Myanmar and Bangladesh nationals have found their way to India, security sources said. 

Now, a section of people in neighbouring Manipur are flagging the possibility of Myanmar nationals providing logistical support to insurgents engaged in the ongoing ethnic conflict. 

But, a top member of Chin National Defence Force (CNDF), an ethnic armed outfit in Myanmar, told ThePrint that Chin resistance groups are not involved in the smuggling of weapons or colluding with ethnic armed groups in Manipur.  

CNDF general secretary Salai Van Thawng Thawng told ThePrint over the phone from an undisclosed location that the Chins of Myanmar “do not connect” with the Kukis of India.

“In our heart, we pray for the people of Manipur, but we do not associate with the Kukis in India. Kukis and Chins are brothers and sisters, and we may help the Myanmar Kukis. (But) we also don’t want to interfere in internal matters of another country and make India angry by doing illegal things,” he said. 

“And we are not in a position to help anybody because of the situation in Myanmar and our own challenges. The displaced Chins taking refuge in Mizoram have also got nothing to do with this.” 

The anti-junta fighters camping in the border areas of Myanmar depend on food and medical supplies from their fraternity in India. 

How Lawngtlai district came under lens

In September alone, security personnel twice seized arms and ammunition from Lawngtlai district.

On 11 September, two Myanmar nationals from Chin State who entered illegally were arrested in a joint operation along with a local resident of Lawngtlai  — on charges of carrying 1,800 rounds of AK47 ammunition. The duo was staying at Archung village in Lawngtlai district.

Weapons seized by Assam Rifles from Aizawl and Lawngtlai districts on 15 September | By Special Arrangement

Four days later, Assam Rifles seized two sniper rifles, one AK rifle, ammunition and war-like stores in Aizawl and Lawngtlai districts.

Prior to this on 4 June, a joint operation led to the recovery of a huge cache of ammunition, including 1,008 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition along with one round of 40mm Under Barrel Grenade Launcher, near Parva in Lawngtlai district.

Three individuals suspected to have KCNA links were arrested. The big haul raised suspicions about the involvement of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, according to an Assam Rifles press statement.

Lawngtlai is a strategic location for the Indian government which is looking to complete the Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project, considered crucial for the ambitious Act East Policy. The project involves the construction of a 119 km road from Paletwa town in Myanmar to Zorinpui town in Lawngtlai. 

Weapons ‘linked to Myanmar’ 

Intelligence sources suspect a connection of Myanmar-based insurgent groups that have joined hands with the junta in the smuggling of weapons. The seized weapons were either headed from Myanmar to Bangladesh or other Indian states through Mizoram, they said. 

Even as the CNDF denied its involvement, security agencies said other groups like the Zomi Revolutionary Army-Eastern Command in Chin State, the Arakan Army, and the Maraland Defence Force that operates in areas close to Mizoram’s Siaha district could be the possible sources of arms and ammunition. 

In July 2022, the Assam Rifles apprehended two Maraland cadres with ammunition from Zawngling village in Siaha district.

The Maraland Defence Force is said to have good relations with the Arakan Army that provides arms, ammunition and military training to the People’s Defense Forces, which is the armed wing of the exiled National Unity Government.

Thawng told ThePrint that it is unlikely any ethnic armed Myanmar outfit would be involved in arms smuggling in Mizoram. “There are weapon dealers in Myanmar looking for potential buyers. They would sell it to whoever can afford to pay. Maybe, some are procuring weapons from Myanmar businessmen who might have engaged people and dealers in Mizoram for the purpose,” the CNDF general secretary claimed.

Bordering Mizoram, Chin State has been an intense battleground since the Myanmar coup. The smuggling of weapons and drugs is believed to be the most profitable enterprise in Chin State, one of the least developed regions in Myanmar. 

The prices of weapons and ammunition have further gone up because of the conflict in Manipur, Thawng and Indian intelligence sources confirmed. 

“Our biggest challenge, made worse by the pandemic, is lack of weapons and rising prices for procurement. The price of an AK-47 assault rifle has risen from 30-50 lakh MMK (Myanmar Kyat) to 180 lakh MMK,” Thawng claimed. (Rs 1,000 roughly translates to 25,273 Kyats) 

Humanitarian challenges 

For decades, thousands from Myanmar have crossed the Tiau river to enter Mizoram, but criminal elements have exploited the loopholes in the Free Movement Regime that allows people in border areas to travel 16 km into each other’s territory without visa. 

The Indian government had expressed concerns that the growing tide of ethnic-Chin refugees may bring the war in Myanmar with them — but Mizos feel obliged to provide refuge. The Kukis, the Zomis, and the Chins are ethnically related. 

The Mizoram government says over 35,000 Myanmar nationals have taken shelter since the 2021 coup. However, sources in the National Unity Government,  a government in exile formed in opposition to the junta, told ThePrint that there could be “well around 50,000 displaced people’.

In June, the NUG issued a notification asking asylum seekers in Mizoram “not to get involved in illegal trafficking of drugs and wild animals, and related matters”.

Mizoram has also welcomed those fleeing from the ethnic strife-torn Manipur with open arms. On 15 August, the Home Department stated that 12,607 individuals — 2,765 people  in 38 designated relief camps and 9,842 outside — from Manipur have sought refuge in Mizoram. 

A month before, Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga expressed his support for a ‘Greater Mizoram’ by bringing in the Mizo-inhabited areas of Manipur, Mizoram and Assam. His government has also backed the demand by Manipur Kuki groups for a ‘separate administration’ in the BJP-ruled state. 

The Mizo Students’ Union, meanwhile, raised concerns for the safety of the Zo ethnic tribes — Kuki-Chin-Mizo — in the state. Speaking to ThePrint, MSU president Samuel Zoramthanpuia said, “I don’t want Mizoram to be a fighting ground, or a trafficking hub. We would not entertain any activities, if not for the development of the people.” 

(Edited by Tony Rai)