DRI seizes 15 kg methamphetamine, 4 kg pseudoephedrine, 85 lakh smuggled cigarettes, and 2 drone-dropped Pakistan-made pistols in nationwide operations; 5 arrested

📌 Summary:

• The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) conducted a series of intelligence-led operations against organised smuggling syndicates and transnational criminal networks; five persons arrested

• 15.07.2026 — Mizoram: a truck intercepted on the Aizawl–Champhai road yielded 15 kg of methamphetamine tablets concealed in brick-shaped packets; drugs smuggled from Myanmar via the Zokhawthar sector; one arrest under the NDPS Act, 1985

• 16.07.2026 — Nhava Sheva, Mumbai: an import container from Dubai declared as "Plastic Storage Boxes" was found packed with nearly 85 lakh sticks of foreign-made Gold Flake cigarettes valued at ₹20 crore

• 17.07.2026 — Punjab: two drone-dropped parcels recovered near the International Border in the Amritsar sector contained two Pakistan-made pistols with magazines; handed to police under the Arms Act, 1959

• 17.07.2026 — Chennai: around 4 kg of pseudoephedrine, a precursor chemical for methamphetamine manufacture, seized from a specially fabricated cavity in a clandestine premises; intended for illegal export; four arrests under the NDPS Act

• Together the cases illustrate three convergent threat vectors — the Myanmar/Golden Triangle narcotics route, mis-declared containerised cargo at major ports, and drone-enabled arms drops across the western border

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 — Internal Security (organised crime, narco-terrorism, border management, security challenges from non-state actors and the role of drones); links to money laundering and the drugs-arms-terror nexus.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• DRI is the apex anti-smuggling intelligence and investigation agency under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Ministry of Finance

• NDPS Act, 1985 governs narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances; the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is the nodal agency, created under the Act in 1986

• Pseudoephedrine is a controlled precursor chemical used to synthesise methamphetamine

• The Golden Triangle covers Myanmar, Laos and Thailand; the Golden Crescent covers Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan

• Zokhawthar in Champhai district, Mizoram, is a border trade point on the India-Myanmar border; Nhava Sheva (JNPA) is India's largest container port

🔑 Key Term: Narco-terrorism — the use of narcotics trafficking revenue and networks to finance, arm and sustain terrorist or insurgent activity, converting a law-enforcement problem into a national-security one.