India Targets Finances Of Myanmar-Run Drug Network In Northeast Raids

India’s Narcotics Control Bureau sent 38 teams into 38 locations across three northeastern states in simultaneous raids aimed at the finances of a drug syndicate run from Myanmar, arresting 18 people and freezing 1,424 bank accounts

File Photo Source: @AmitShah

The raids were carried out in the early hours of 23 October by the bureau alongside Mizoram police and the Enforcement Directorate, the agency that investigates financial crime. Teams searched sites in Aizawl and Champhai in Mizoram, including Zokhawthar on the Myanmar border, as well as Churachandpur in Manipur and the Cachar corridor in Assam.

Property worth 178 million rupees was attached. Officers seized 1.2 million rupees in cash and 500 detonators. The ministry listed no narcotics among the recoveries.

Modi Govt deals another lethal blow against drugs with Operation Trident. Our agencies launched a barrage of simultaneous crackdowns across 38 locations in Assam, Mizoram and Manipur on 23 October, smashing an international narco-cartel. The operation revealed ₹100 crore worth of hawala transactions, froze 1,424 bank accounts, attached properties worth ₹17.82 crore, seized 500 detonators and ₹12 lakh in cash, and led to the arrest of 18 people. The network trafficked narcotics across the borders of India, Myanmar and Bangladesh through the Death Triangle Corridor. The offensive attests to India’s Himalayan resolve to realise the mission of eradicating every drug network by 31 December 2029. India will hammer until the last nail is driven into the coffin of drug cartels. Heartiest congratulations to the anti-narcotics team comprising central agencies, and police forces of the three states.

— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) October 25, 2026

The network is headed by a Myanmar-based trafficker named in the release as Thangcintuang, also known as Chintuang and Tluanga, who is wanted in more than ten drugs cases and who the ministry said moved methamphetamine and heroin along a route running from Myanmar through Mizoram, Manipur, Assam and Tripura into the rest of India and on to Bangladesh.

He and three others were arrested in earlier stages of the investigation rather than in this week’s raids. The figure of a billion rupees in hawala transactions that ministers cited came from those earlier inquiries, which followed the arrest in August 2024 of the network’s main money handler. Hawala is an informal transfer system that moves value outside the banking network.

The Modi Government's fight against the drug menace continues with unwavering resolve. In a major crackdown under Operation Trident on 23rd October, our agencies conducted coordinated operations across 38 locations in Assam, Mizoram & Manipur, arresting 18 individuals and uncovering a vast network of drug trafficking & hawala operations in the region. This decisive action reflects the Government's commitment under PM @NarendraModi ji's leadership & HM @AmitShah ji's sustained efforts towards dismantling every drug network in India by 31st December 2029, ensuring a safer, drug-free nation and securing peace, prosperity & well-being for our people.

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) October 25, 2026

Home Minister Amit Shah said agencies had smashed an international cartel and repeated a target of eliminating every drug network in India by the end of 2029. “India will hammer until the last nail is driven into the coffin of drug cartels,” he wrote.

The ministry presented the operation as an example of a shift set out in a narcotics strategy for 2026 to 2029, away from drug seizures and towards dismantling the networks and the money behind them.