Silchar, Oct 23 (IANS): Miscreants have resorted to new methods after the police came down heavily to check the smuggling of betel nuts from Myanmar using Mizoram and Assam as a corridor, said a police source on Saturday.

On the condition of anonymity, a senior police officer of Cachar district in Assam said that after bringing betel nuts to Mizoram through the Champai border in Myanmar, they are stored in different warehouses in the Vairengte area there.

After that, the smuggled betel nuts had been transported to Assam in trucks earlier. The smugglers were following this tactic for a long time.

However, due to an increase in vigilance at the Lailapur check post of the Assam-Mizoram border in Cachar district, the smugglers have been forced to change their tactic, the police officer said.

He added that now the smugglers use small vehicles and alternate routes through villages for avoiding police checking at the Lailapur check post.

In village routes, police surveillance is relatively less and the smugglers are taking advantage of this.

Moreover, it is easy to avoid public attention while using small vehicles for the illegal transport of betel nuts. Additionally, if the consignment is caught by the police since a small number of betel nuts were smuggled, the loss incurred by the miscreants will also be less.

After crossing the Assam border, the betel nuts are being stored again in the Umkiang area of Meghalaya.

As per police sources, several large warehouses have already been built there. After storing in Umkiang, from there it is again loaded in big trucks and then smuggled to different destinations in the country.