The Assam Rifles has seized over Rs 1,600 crore worth of illegally traded goods in the northeast region from Myanmar since 2020, the chief of the paramilitary force said.
Such unlawful trade is alarming and detrimental to national development and India's Act East Policy, Assam Rifles Director General Lt Gen Pradeep Chandran Nair said at an event organised by industry chamber FICCI.
He said the force is committed to work with all central and state agencies to combat illegal trade and smuggling in the region.
"The Assam Rifles in the year 2020 seized Rs 857 crore of illegally traded goods and around Rs 746 crore in 2021," Nair said.
"The force has been at the helm of affairs to counter illegal trade along the 1,643-km porous and unfenced India-Myanmar border. The whole region is of great importance from an economic and strategic point of view," he said.
Former Special Commissioner of Delhi Police, Deep Chand, said illicit trade across the borders is impacting the social fabric of nations, and India in particular, is a victim of large-scale smuggling.
The proceeds from the illegal trade are increasingly becoming the main source of terror funding, said Anil Rajput, chairman of FICCI’s Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy (CASCADE).