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GANGTOK, OCT 25: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested six people, frozen 1,424 bank accounts and provisionally attached assets worth ₹26.01 crore in a crackdown on an alleged drug-linked hawala network operating in Mizoram and Manipur.

The agency conducted coordinated searches at multiple locations in Aizawl, Champhai and Lawngtlai in Mizoram, and Churachandpur in Manipur, beginning October 23. The operation was linked to three money laundering investigations involving the alleged trafficking of heroin, brown sugar and methamphetamine tablets from Myanmar.

According to the ED, the searches were carried out in coordination with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and Mizoram Police. The targeted premises included those of suspected hawala operators, holders of mule bank accounts, front businesses, a mini-ATM counter and bank branches linked to the alleged network.

The six arrested individuals include three from Mizoram and three from Manipur, the agency said.

India-Myanmar Border Allegedly Used for Drug Trafficking

The ED said the 1,643-kilometre India-Myanmar border, owing to its porous nature, facilitates the movement of narcotics and related financial transactions. The Champhai-Zokhawthar sector of Mizoram has emerged as a key route in the alleged trafficking network.

According to the agency, precursor substances and chemicals used in drug processing and dilution are transported from India to Myanmar, while finished narcotics, including heroin, brown sugar and methamphetamine tablets, are brought into India.

The drugs are allegedly transported across the Tiau River near Zokhawthar, opposite Khawmawi in Myanmar, before being moved to Champhai. From there, consignments are reportedly transported along the Champhai-Aizawl road and National Highway 6A towards Aizawl, Vairengte and the borders of Assam and Tripura.

The ED said the narcotics entering Mizoram and Manipur are either consumed locally or transported through Assam to other parts of India and Bangladesh.

Mule Bank Accounts Allegedly Used to Route Drug Money

Investigators allege that money generated from drug trafficking is routed back to border towns in Mizoram to settle payments with suppliers based in Myanmar.

The agency also said some holders of mule bank accounts admitted during the investigation that they had rented out their accounts to suspected narco-hawala operators in exchange for ₹500 per lakh.

Such accounts are allegedly used to transfer illicit funds while making it more difficult for investigators to trace the money to its original source.

The freezing of 1,424 bank accounts and the provisional attachment of assets worth ₹26.01 crore form part of the ED's ongoing investigation into suspected money laundering linked to cross-border narcotics trafficking.

The agency is investigating the alleged financial network under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

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