The dispute issuing illegal trading of areca nuts across Tripura, Mizoram and Assam via neigbouring Myanmar has created massive trouble in Mamit district of Mizoram on Saturday morning as some unidentified local villagers burnt down six vehicles carrying dry areca nuts (Burmese Supari).

Sources said that the stalemate among Tripura and Assam states disputing illegal import of areca nuts from Myanmar through Mizoram borders has been resolved after interference of Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha and his counterpart of Assam. But, the traders and farmers of the vast areas of Tripura, Mizoram and lower Assam have been suffering huge losses due to illegal smuggling of areca nuts from Myanmar.

Local sources said that after the villagers of Mamit district bordering Assam, Tripura and Bangladesh set fire on six vehicles loaded with areca nuts from Myanmar , so far no injuries were reported and when villagers blockaded the road, when these vehicles are trying to enter into Tripura’s territory and set fire on the vehicles. But, all the drivers and assistants of these vehicles narrowly escaped from the clutches of angry villagers.

Sources added that these six vehicles carrying the dry areca nuts, not locally grown, contained 20 cartons and 122 big bags, while Mizoram police are yet to ascertain their destinations and have not yet identified the traders of these products. The Mamit district police started investigation and in the initial stage, police has arrested 7 areca nut growers of the district for their allege involvement in the firing incident.

Sources added said that the trucks were set ablaze between Zawlnuam and Zamuang villages of Mamit District, bordering Assam, Tripura and Bangladesh.

The burning of the trucks happened two days after Mizoram Rajya Sabha MP K. Vanlalvena raised the plight of Mizoram and Tripura areca nut growers in the Parliament.

Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Vanlalvena informed the Parliament that majority of farmers in western Mizoram and the Jampui hills of Tripura have been depending on areca nut plantation as their main source of income for the past many decades.

"The market for areca nuts produced from Mizoram and Tripura was badly affected this year after the Assam government launched a crackdown on areca nuts smuggled from Myanmar. However, the areca nut grown in Mizoram and Tripura had to transport in the other states of the country through the Assam territory only," the Rajya Sabha member had said.

He said that the Assam government was acting on the instructions of the Union Home Ministry to curb illegal import of areca nuts from Myanmar.

While appreciating the central government's move to curb illegally imported areca nuts, Vanlalvena urged that areca nuts (also known as betel nut or 'supari') produced in the Northeast region should be allowed to sell anywhere in India, and that they (locally grown areca nuts) should not be mistaken for illegally imported ones.

It may be recalled here that  illegal  trade of areca nut is on the rise as the security forces, including the Assam Rifles, often seizing thousands of tonnes of the product along with drugs and other goods smuggled from Myanmar.