The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has uncovered a suspected system in which essential commodities, fuel and other goods are allegedly used to settle payments for drugs supplied from Myanmar, bypassing conventional cross-border money transfers, according to a report published by ThePrint.
The investigation has identified Churachandpur district in Manipur as a key node in the suspected network, which allegedly operates through traders, money-transfer counters and commercial establishments across Manipur and Mizoram.
According to ThePrint, investigators traced transactions involving payments to suppliers of flour, edible oil and other commodities, followed by the movement of goods to Mizoram’s border areas and their alleged onward transportation to Myanmar. The goods were suspected to have been used to settle outstanding dues with drug suppliers.
One transaction reportedly involved Rs 13.19 lakh transferred to a flour mill in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, on December 14, 2024. Four days later, the mill issued an invoice for 32,535 kg of flour in the name of a Churachandpur-based mini-ATM and money-transfer counter, Go Alpha Trip. The consignment was subsequently dispatched to Aizawl.
In another transaction, two payments of Rs 5 lakh each were reportedly made to an edible-oil trader in Guwahati in April 2026. The trader subsequently issued an invoice for 631 cases of refined soybean oil valued at Rs 10 lakh, with the consignment reportedly sent to a store in Mizoram’s Champhai district.
The ED also reportedly examined bulk fuel transactions involving filling stations in Mizoram, including payments made against supplies allegedly transported towards the India-Myanmar border. Some transactions were flagged because the parties making payments were reportedly different from those receiving the goods.
Investigators suspect that commodities transported across the border were sold in Myanmar and the proceeds used to settle drug-related debts, creating an alternative payment channel that could conceal the financial trail of narcotics trafficking.
ThePrint further reported that around Rs 175 crore suspected to have been generated from drug sales was routed through accounts in Manipur and Mizoram before being transferred through money exchangers operating in border areas.
The findings emerged from a multi-agency crackdown, Operation Trident, involving the ED, the Narcotics Control Bureau and Mizoram Police. The operation reportedly led to the freezing of more than 1,400 bank accounts, attachment of properties worth Rs 17.82 crore and 18 arrests.
The investigation is continuing. The transactions and alleged links remain under scrutiny, and the findings do not by themselves establish the guilt of the businesses or individuals involved.