The 25 Assam Rifles (AR) based in Arunachal's Changlang district has apprehended several drug addicts, peddlers and smugglers, official sources said here today.

So far the battalion has succeeded in apprehending 15 drug peddlers from the area and seized large quantity of opium ever since it's anti-narcotics operations took off.

Sources informed that cultivation of poppy is rampant in villages like Ranglum, Hedman, Rangkhil, Jangjihavi and Phunsa along the Myanmar border, while consignments of opium continue to pour in from the neighbouring country.

The cultivation is done in the higher reaches of the district and is treated commercially as a cash crop that fetches easy money.

 The battalion, with its medical officers, are visiting remote villages, especially in border areas, and are organising counselling against drug abuse and ill effects of cultivation and smuggling of contraband.

The routes from which these contrabands are smuggled have been identified and stringent steps are on to cleanse the district from the evils of drug consumption and trafficking that attributes to multiplication of crime rate, officials said.