In a major haul of drugs, the Tripura police along with Assam Rifles, have seized drugs worth Rs 40 crore on Wednesday from two separate parts of the state and arrested two drug peddlers.

Police sources said that during a routine check, the Assam Rifles troops and Tripura Police personnel intercepted a truck at Khayerpur in West Tripura district, and during a subsequent search, three lakh highly addictive banned  Yaba (methamphetamine) tablets were recovered from the vehicle.

The estimated value of the methamphetamine tablets, also known as Yaba or party tablets, is Rs 30 crore. During the search of the truck, the driver managed to escape from the spot. The recovered narcotics have been handed over to the officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) for further investigation and necessary legal action.

In another operation during regular checking of vehicles at National Highway-8 at the Naka point of 41-Miles under Mungiakami police station of Khowai district,  police detained a suspected auto-rickshaw coming from Ambassa towards Teliamura.

Over smell of medicines, police conducted a search in the vehicle in presence of senior police officials and an executive magistrate, recovered 10 packets under the seat of the auto-rickshaw and when police opened these packets found one lakh Yaba tablets, worth Rs. 10 crore.

Later, speaking with media persons, SP(Khowai), Ranaditya Das said that police have arrested an auto-rickshaw driver and another drug peddler. They have registered a specific case under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and both arrested drug peddlers will be produced before a local court with police remand appeals for interrogation and get details of their drug smuggling network.

Police suspect that the methamphetamine tablets, a type of drug that lets people stay awake and do continuous activity with less need for sleep, were smuggled from Myanmar via Mizoram and Southern Assam, and entered Tripura to be smuggled to Bangladesh. These drugs are made as pills, powders, or chunky crystals called ice.

Ice, nicknamed crystal meth, is a popular drug, especially with young adults and those who go to dance clubs and parties. Myanmar's Chin state is a hub for smuggling of varied drugs, exotic wildlife animals and much other contraband through six Mizoram districts -- Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Hnahthial, Saitual and Serchhip.

Mizoram shares 510 km and 318 km of unfenced border with Myanmar and Bangladesh, respectively.

Meanwhile, Tripura's Chief Minister recently said that on the advice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, the state government has taken a zero-tolerance policy against the drug menace and its illegal trade.

The Chief Minister, who also holds the Home portfolio, said that Tripura is being used as a corridor for the illegal drug trade, and the law enforcement agencies have always remained extra alert to curb the illicit activities.