The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday carried out coordinated searches across Mizoram, Assam and Gujarat as part of a money-laundering investigation linked to a major narcotics case, officials said.
Teams from the ED’s Aizawl Sub-Zonal Office searched multiple locations in Aizawl and Champhai in Mizoram, Sribhumi district in southern Assam and Ahmedabad in Gujarat under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The agency recovered Rs. 35 lakh in cash and several digital devices, which are now being examined.
The probe stems from an FIR registered by Mizoram Police under the NDPS Act after 4.724 kg of heroin worth over Rs. 1.41 crore was seized from six arrested individuals. Financial analysis of the suspects led investigators to uncover links between firms in Mizoram and Gujarat.
According to ED sources, Gujarat-based companies had supplied pseudoephedrine tablets and caffeine anhydrous—key precursors used in methamphetamine production—to entities in Mizoram with connections to drug traffickers operating along the Champhai sector of the Myanmar border.
Further links were traced to Kolkata-based shell entities that had procured consignments of caffeine anhydrous.
The agency said the precursors enter Myanmar through porous border points in Mizoram before being used in meth labs, with the final products trafficked back into India.
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Investigators also detected credits amounting to Rs. 52.8 crore in bank accounts linked to narco-hawala operators, including cash deposits across Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland, West Bengal, Tripura and Delhi.
Their statements are being recorded.
Mizoram shares long unfenced borders—510 km with Myanmar and 318 km with Bangladesh—making districts such as Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Hnahthial, Saitual and Serchhip major transit zones.
Several Manipur districts, including Churachandpur, Tengnoupal and Chandel, also lie along key trafficking routes.
Further investigation is underway.
