Operation Trident: ED Arrests Four More in Mizoram Drug-Hawala Probe, Uncovers International Money Trail

October 31, 2026

Aizawl/Imphal: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested four more accused in connection with its investigation into an alleged international drug trafficking and hawala network operating across the Northeast. The agency also uncovered details of cross-border financial transactions after examining documents seized during searches in Manipur’s Churachandpur district under ‘Operation Trident’.

The ED’s Aizawl Sub-Zonal Office formally arrested the four accused on Friday. They have been identified as Lalrammuana, Thangcintuang alias Chintuang alias Tluanga, Jabrul Haque and Abu Saleh Md Saif Uddin.

Lalrammuana is from Mizoram’s Champhai district, while Thangcintuang is a resident of Bulfek village in Myanmar. Jabrul Haque and Abu Saleh Md Saif Uddin belong to Assam’s Sribhumi district, formerly known as Karimganj.

According to the ED, Saif Uddin was arrested in the Krishiv Enterprise case, while the other three were arrested under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the Jabrul Haque case.

All four were already lodged in Aizawl Central Jail in connection with Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) cases. They were produced before the Additional District and Sessions Judge-I in Aizawl on production warrants. The court, through orders issued on October 29, permitted their formal arrest and granted the ED 48 hours of custody for interrogation.

Four Accused Linked to 49-Kg Methamphetamine Seizure

The ED said the four accused had specific roles in a 49.101-kg methamphetamine consignment seized on August 21, 2025.

According to the agency, Thangcintuang, who is based in Myanmar, supplied the consignment, while Lalrammuana was its main handler. Jabrul Haque was the intended receiver at the Damchhera-Kanhmun border in Tripura.

Abu Saleh allegedly operated from Karimganj and handled an account that received Rs 11.44 crore, including Rs 6.67 crore in cash. The agency said the money was routed into hawala accounts in Champhai.

With these latest arrests, the total number of accused arrested in the three cases has reached 10, the ED said.

ED Uncovers International Hawala Transactions in Manipur

During a search at the residence of Zenngaihniang alias Taniang in New Lamka, Churachandpur district, on October 23, the ED recovered cash books, registers and notebooks containing handwritten records of alleged hawala transactions.

The agency said the documents revealed a regular currency exchange operation in which Indian rupees were collected in cash and through bank accounts from different parts of India. The money was then converted into Myanmar kyat at daily rates of around 42 to 48 kyat per rupee and paid out to recipients in Myanmar.

Some entries in the seized records reportedly involved transactions worth as much as Rs 54.47 lakh in a single day, equivalent to around 26 crore Myanmar kyat. The books also contained running totals exceeding 43 crore kyat.

The ED further found a record of Rs 1.14 crore being paid to one handler within a week in April 2025. The documents also showed transactions through Myanmar’s mobile wallet KPay and the conversion of 10,816 US dollars at a rate of 4,150 kyat per dollar between April 2025 and February 2026.

The agency also seized seven signed Rs 10 currency notes suspected to have been used as identification tokens for hawala payments. Documents relating to an immovable property purchased for Rs 60 lakh in Taniang’s name were also recovered.

The ED said 991 bank accounts linked to the Churachandpur network had been frozen.

Drug Money Allegedly Used to Purchase Goods Across Border

The investigation has also revealed what the ED described as a ‘goods for drugs’ arrangement, in which payments for narcotics supplied from Myanmar were allegedly made through the purchase of ordinary goods in India.

According to the agency, the records of M/s Go Alpha Trip, a Mini-ATM counter allegedly used by Zenngaihniang to channel more than Rs 175 crore into the banking system, along with statements in the connected Mizoram case, point to this method of payment.

The counter and accounts allegedly linked to the network made payments to suppliers, including a flour mill in West Bengal, an edible oil trader in Assam, filling stations in Mizoram, grocery and medicine wholesalers, and footwear and cloth traders in Delhi.

The ED said payments of around Rs 2.61 crore were made to filling stations in Mizoram. Invoices were reportedly raised in the names of third parties in Aizawl and border towns such as Champhai, Zorinpui and Tlabung. The goods were then allegedly moved into Myanmar.

The agency suspects that drug suppliers across the border were paid in goods rather than through direct money transfers. This arrangement allegedly allowed payments in India to be shown as ordinary commercial transactions backed by GST invoices, while leaving little or no direct money trail across the border.

Further Investigation Underway

The ED said its investigation is continuing to identify cross-border operatives in India and Myanmar whose names appeared in the seized records.

The agency is also tracing recipients in border towns, identifying suppliers allegedly paid through the same channels and examining additional properties and assets suspected to have been acquired using proceeds of crime.

Further action to trace and provisionally attach such assets is also underway, the ED said.