The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested six people and frozen 1,424 bank accounts in Manipur and Mizoram in a cross-border drug trafficking and money laundering case.

In a statement on Sunday, the agency said searches across three money laundering cases uncovered a “narco-hawala ecosystem” that channels drug proceeds from across India back to suppliers in Myanmar. The frozen accounts belong to alleged drug traders, money handlers and their mule and beneficiary account holders.

The Northeast shares a 1,643-km porous border with Myanmar and serves as a key land route for drugs from the Golden Triangle. According to the ED, heroin and methamphetamine enter Mizoram and Manipur before moving through Assam to other parts of India and Bangladesh. Drug proceeds then flow back to border towns in Mizoram.

On October 23, the ED’s Aizawl and Imphal sub-zonal offices searched multiple locations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The Narcotics Control Bureau and Mizoram Police also carried out parallel action against the network. Investigators arrested three people each in Mizoram and Manipur under Section 19 of the PMLA. The agency did not disclose their identities.

The three cases originated from FIRs registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. In the Krishiv Enterprise case, police seized 4.722 kg of heroin packed in 440 soap cases in Mizoram on March 14, 2025. The consignment was reportedly headed to Aizawl for a Myanmar-based supplier.

In the Jabrul Haque case, the Agartala NCB seized 49.101 kg of methamphetamine tablets and 40 grams of heroin from a convoy on NH-06A near Seling on August 21, 2025. Investigators traced the drugs to Chintuang in Myanmar, with delivery planned at the Damchhera-Kanhmun border.

In the Zenngaihniang case in Manipur, police seized 2.413 kg of brown sugar and ₹31.43 lakh on July 2, 2026. The ED said the cash represented drug sale proceeds collected in Churachandpur for transfer to suppliers in Myanmar.

The agency described the trade through Mizoram’s Champhai-Zokhawthar sector as a “two-way street”. Chemicals used to manufacture drugs move from India to Myanmar, while finished narcotics enter India.

Between March and November 2024, Krishiv Enterprises reportedly sent around 32 tonnes of Caffeine Anhydrous in 15 consignments and another 10 tonnes of Aluminium Chloride Anhydrous. The shipments carried regular e-way bills and GST invoices to small pharmacies and a general store in Aizawl and border areas, none of which had manufacturing facilities. The ED suspects the chemicals crossed into Myanmar for use in tablet-pressing units producing “Yaba” methamphetamine tablets.

Heroin, brown sugar and methamphetamine tablets reportedly enter through the Tiau River at Zokhawthar before moving via Champhai, Aizawl and routes towards Assam and Tripura. Myanmar-based operators allegedly use local carriers, soap cases, taxis, motorcycles and truck convoys with escort vehicles.