Assam Rifles Director General Lt Gen Pradeep Chandran Nair said over Rs 1,600 crore worth of illegally traded goods from Myanmar were seized in the Northeast region since 2020.

He reiterated that such unlawful trade is alarming and detrimental to national development and India's Act East Policy, adding that the force is committed to work with all central and state agencies to combat the same.

"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.

Meanwhile, Anil Rajput, chairman of FICCI's Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy (CASCADE), said the proceeds from the illegal trade are increasingly becoming the main source of terror funding.