INDIA, Dec. 3 -- The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has intercepted a high-value heroin consignment worth approximately Rs 12.5 crore in Assam, trafficked from Myanmar through a complex riverine route, officials said.

A senior NCB officer on Tuesday described the operation as a major breakthrough against an international drug network exploiting remote waterways to evade law enforcement surveillance.

Acting on weeks of intelligence, the NCB's Guwahati Zonal Unit, in collaboration with the CRPF and Assam Police, tracked the illegal shipment as it moved through dense forests in Manipur before being transported on small motorboats along the Barak River. Authorities noted that traffickers increasingly rely on river routes to avoid checkpoint...