Imphal, Dec. 30: Members of the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) today destroyed a large number of Hindi and pornographic videocassettes and discs, burning them in front of newspersons here.

The outfit also destroyed several bottles of Indian-made foreign liquor.

The RPF militants, under the codename Staforce Division-III, seized the cassettes and VCDs from video libraries in Lilong and the area near the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences here. Staforce had “executed” two drug traffickers who were caught with a kg of heroin a few months back.

The RPF had banned the screening of Hindi films and playing of Hindi songs in the state.

It has also ordered videocassette and VCD libraries to abstain from keeping Hindi or pornographic films.

A spokesperson of the outfit has warned that anybody defying the order would be punished. The outfit has burnt such cassettes on several occasions over the past few years.

Heroin seized: The drugs and narcotic cell of Imphal police seized more than a kg of heroin, a kg of charas (marijuana) and 2,047 kg of ganja this year. The seized heroin is worth approximately Rs 9 lakh.

Cough syrup smuggled

Marketed as a cough syrup but popular as an intoxicant, the banned expectorant Phensedyl is now being smuggled from Nagaland to Myanmar to increase the endurance of gold miners, Nishit Dholabhai reports from Kohima.

It is believed that the ingredients of the cough syrup enable a miner to stay in a pit for a longer time than usual.

Inspector general of police (intelligence) C. Kikon told The Telegraph that travellers to Myanmar had been caught carrying bottles of Phensedyl, which is banned in Nagaland.