The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 25 October 2026 conducted coordinated searches across Mizoram and Manipur under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), targeting a cross-border narco-hawala network linked to Myanmar-sourced drug trafficking. The agency froze 1,424 bank accounts and provisionally attached properties worth ₹17.82 crore, taking total assets secured in the three linked cases to over ₹26 crore.

Scale of the Operation

The ED's Aizawl and Imphal Sub-Zonal offices carried out simultaneous search operations on 23 October 2026 at multiple premises in Aizawl, Champhai and Lawngtlai in Mizoram, and Churachandpur in Manipur. The operation was conducted in coordination with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Mizoram Police, which launched parallel action against the same trafficking network on the same day.

Six accused have been arrested under Section 19 of the PMLA — three in Mizoram and three in Manipur. Production-for-arrest applications against four more accused, presently in judicial custody in narcotics cases, are being processed before the Special Court in Mizoram. The arrested persons are being produced before the jurisdictional Special Courts (PMLA).

How the Narco-Hawala Network Operated

According to the ED statement, investigators uncovered one interconnected narco-hawala ecosystem in which the same set of bank accounts in Champhai, Aizawl and Lawngtlai received drug money generated across Manipur, Mizoram, Assam and Tripura, and settled it with suppliers in Myanmar.

The trafficking corridor functioned as a two-way street through the Champhai-Zokhawthar sector. In one direction, precursor chemicals moved from India to Myanmar — M/s Krishiv Enterprises reportedly dispatched approximately 32 tonnes of Caffeine Anhydrous in 15 consignments between March and November 2024, along with 10 tonnes of Aluminium Chloride Anhydrous, to front consignees in Aizawl and the border belt. These chemicals were then moved across the border to tablet-pressing units in Myanmar, where Caffeine Anhydrous is used to bulk and cut methamphetamine into 'Yaba' tablets.

In the other direction, finished heroin, brown sugar and methamphetamine tablets produced in Myanmar were carried across the Tiau river at Zokhawthar, staged at Champhai, and transported onward via National Highway-06A to Aizawl and further into Assam and Tripura. Myanmar-based organisers, identified as Runthanchhungi alias Nu Sungi and Chintuang, hired local carriers who concealed consignments in soap cases, taxis, motorcycles and truck convoys with escort vehicles.

The Money Trail: From Metro Cities to Border Towns

Drug cash collected across the Northeast entered the banking system through Mini-ATM/Customer Service Point counters. In Churachandpur, syndicate operative Nengzatuan Valte alias Tuanpi collected cash and handed it to Zenngaihniang alias Taniang, who delivered up to ₹1 crore per day at M/s Go Alpha Trip, a Mini-ATM counter run by H. Gouzalal. Recorded under the code name 'NUNIANG', the counter made 2,947 transfers aggregating ₹175.03 crore between 2024 and June 2026.

Beneficiary account holders in Mizoram, who rented their accounts for ₹500 per lakh, passed funds onward through RTGS/NEFT/IMPS within days. Of ₹11.98 crore received across seven analysed accounts, only ₹17 lakh was withdrawn in cash. Notably, a single account belonging to a Champhai homemaker — operated by her bank-employee husband — received ₹15.48 crore against a declared family income of approximately ₹27,000 per month.

The layered funds ultimately reached unlicensed Rupee-Kyat exchangers in Champhai, chiefly Lalrampari and her husband Lalliansanga (Proprietor of M/s JTS Store), whose accounts recorded credits of approximately ₹268.80 crore, including ₹125 crore in cash from Assam, Nagaland, West Bengal, Tripura and Delhi. The proceeds were integrated into real estate, including Hotel JTS, a five-storey commercial building in Zion Veng, Champhai.

The money trail was not confined to the Northeast. Hawala accounts in Aizawl and Champhai received funds from New Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai — including approximately ₹2.14 crore received by hawala operator Lalrinkima from shell entities in Kolkata — indicating that proceeds from drug sales in metropolitan cities were being routed back to the border through layered corporate and hawala channels.

Arrests and Evidence Seized

The six persons arrested under PMLA include Kashyap G. Thakkar, Thangkhuala and T. Chatuan Vanlalgakha in Mizoram, and Zenngaihniang alias Taniang, Nengzatuan Valte alias Tuanpi and H. Gouzalal of Churachandpur, Manipur. Taniang and Tuanpi, already in judicial custody in NDPS cases, were formally arrested with the permission of the Special Judge, ND&PS, Churachandpur.

Searches led to the seizure of incriminating ledgers recording cash received and transfers made, cheque books, debit cards, mobile phones and digital devices. Account holders admitted their accounts were rented to suspected narco-hawala operators for ₹500 per lakh. The investigation was initiated on the basis of FIRs under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

Northeast as a Drug Corridor

The Northeast region shares a 1,643 km porous border with Myanmar and has emerged as the principal land corridor for drugs produced in the Golden Triangle. Heroin and methamphetamine entering Mizoram and Manipur are consumed locally and moved onward through Assam to the rest of India and Bangladesh, with drug money flowing back to border towns for settlement with Myanmar-based suppliers. The ED investigation lays bare the full circuit — chemical supply, drug flow and money settlement — all converging on the Champhai-Zokhawthar corridor.

Production-for-arrest proceedings against four more accused are expected to conclude before the Special Court in Mizoram in the coming weeks, as investigators continue to trace further layers of the narco-hawala chain.