Mob torches six vehicles laden with ‘smuggled’ areca nuts in Mizoram

The vehicles were heading towards Kanhmun on the Mizoram-Tripura border.

A case has been registered at Kanhmun Police Station, she said.

“An investigation has been initiated. No person has been arrested and no one has so far claimed responsibility for the incident,” Pulamte told PTI.

The incident happened about a month after an areca nut growers’ society in Mamit’s Hachhek assembly constituency had demanded action on vehicles carrying smuggled Burmese areca nuts.

The society also warned that it would take no responsibility for any untoward incident.

It had, in October, held a demonstration, demanding that the state government must ensure that locally grown areca nuts are transported and sold in Assam.

The society’s general secretary Lalremruata Khiangte claimed that none of their members was involved in Saturday’s incident.

“People in the Hachhek area are disappointed as smuggled Burmese areca nuts affect their markets,” he told PTI.

Last week, Mizoram Rajya Sabha member K Vanlalvena raised the issue in Parliament and claimed that the restriction imposed by Assam has adversely affected areca nut farmers and traders in Mizoram and Jampui Hills of Tripura.