In a major crackdown on drug trafficking networks operating across India’s northeastern region and neighbouring countries, central agencies and police forces of Assam, Mizoram and Manipur conducted simultaneous raids at 38 locations on October 23 under Operation Trident, exposing an alleged international narcotics cartel with links to cross-border trafficking, hawala transactions and other illegal activities.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced the operation through a post on his official Facebook page, describing it as another major blow against drug cartels under the Narendra Modi-led government’s campaign to eliminate drug networks.
According to Shah, the coordinated operation resulted in the arrest of 18 people and the freezing of 1,424 bank accounts. Investigating agencies also uncovered hawala transactions worth approximately Rs 100 crore, attached properties valued at Rs 17.82 crore, and seized 500 detonators and Rs 12 lakh in cash.
The operation targeted a suspected transnational network allegedly involved in trafficking narcotics across the borders of India, Myanmar and Bangladesh through what Shah described as the “Death Triangle Corridor”.
The seizure of detonators alongside the financial and narcotics-related findings has added another dimension to the investigation, although the Home Minister’s statement did not specify the intended use of the explosives or provide details about the individuals arrested and their alleged roles in the network.
The coordinated raids across the three northeastern states underline the importance of inter-agency cooperation in tackling organised drug trafficking and its associated financial networks. The region’s proximity to Myanmar and Bangladesh makes cross-border coordination a significant component of efforts to curb the movement of narcotics and dismantle trafficking syndicates.
Shah congratulated the anti-narcotics teams comprising central agencies and police forces from Assam, Mizoram and Manipur for carrying out the operation. He asserted that the government remained committed to eliminating drug networks and reiterated the target of eradicating every drug cartel by December 31, 2029.
The Home Minister described Operation Trident as part of the Centre’s sustained offensive against drug trafficking, emphasising that enforcement agencies would continue their campaign until the networks involved in the illicit trade were dismantled.
Further details regarding the identities of those arrested, the specific locations raided in Manipur and the nature of the alleged cartel’s operations are awaited.
