ED arrests four more accused, including Myanmar national, in cross-border drug network

The Enforcement Directorate has arrested four more accused, including a Myanmar citizen, in connection with an international cross-border “narco-hawala” network, following a recent multi-agency crackdown on the network. The agency has uncovered financial records purportedly showing that drug suppliers in Myanmar were also paid in kind.Editorial | Small fish: On Operation TridentAs part of Operation Trident, simultaneous raids were earlier carried out at 38 locations across Assam, Mizoram, and Manipur, leading to the arrest of 18 accused persons and detection of ₹100 crore in “hawala” transactions on October 23.In the latest arrests by the ED, the agency took into custody Myanmar national Thangcintuang alias Chintuang; Lalrammuana of Champhai district in Mizoram, Jabrul Haque from Sribhumi and Abu Saleh Md Saif Uddin from Karimganj in Assam. They were lodged in jail in connection with cases registered by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). The ED produced them before a local court and secured their 48-hour custody for interrogation.According to the agency, Chintuang was the Myanmar-based supplier of the 49.1 kg methamphetamine consignment seized on August 21, 2025, while Lalrammuana was the main handler and Jabrul Haque its intended receiver at the Damchhera-Kanhmun border. Abu Saleh was allegedly the operator whose account received ₹11.44 crore, including ₹6.67 crore in cash, and fed the Champhai “hawala” accounts.The ED allegedly seized cash books, registers and notebooks containing handwritten accounts of another accused Zenngaihniang’s “hawala” business during searches at her premises in Churachandpur town on October 23.“The records reflect a regular currency-exchange and ‘hawala’ operation in which Indian currencies were received in cash and in bank accounts from persons in different parts of India, converted into Myanmari Kyat at daily rates of about 42 to 48 Kyat per Rupee, and paid out to persons in Myanmar,” it alleged.The ED alleged that individual transactions ran up to ₹54.47 lakh a day, equivalent to about 26 crore Kyat, while cumulative transactions exceeded 43 crore Kyat. The agency found that ₹1.14 crore was paid to one handler within a week in April 2025. The records also allegedly showed transfers through Myanmar’s KPay app and the conversion of $10,816 at the rate of 4,150 Kyat per dollar between April 2025 and February 2026.“Seven signed ₹10 notes, suspected to have been used as tokens for identifying the recipients of ‘hawala’ payments, and documents of an immovable property purchased for ₹60 lakh in the name of Zenngaihniang alias Taniang were also seized, and 991 bank accounts linked to the Churachandpur network were frozen,” said the agency.The ED further alleged that the ledgers of Go Alpha Trip, a mini-ATM counter through which Taniang routed over ₹175 crore via the banking system, and statements in the connected Mizoram case revealed that drug money was also converted into ordinary goods to pay in kind.The counter and the Mizoram mule accounts paid suppliers such as 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, while the invoices were raised on third parties in Aizawl and border towns such as Champhai, Zorinpui, and Tlabung. The purchased goods were sent to Myanmar. Published - October 31, 2026 10:46 pm IST