NEW DELHI, October 26 (Aalimi Nation) – The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), working with state police and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), has arrested 18 people in Operation Trident, a coordinated action against an alleged transnational drug trafficking network in Assam, Mizoram and Manipur, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The operation was carried out on October 23, and details were made public over the weekend. Officials said 38 multi-agency teams conducted simultaneous searches at 38 identified locations across the three states, with Mizoram Police taking part alongside the central agencies.
According to the Home Ministry, investigators identified hawala transactions worth nearly ₹100 crore and froze 1,424 bank accounts. Properties valued at ₹17.82 crore were attached. The agencies also seized 500 detonators and ₹12 lakh in cash.
The ED conducted parallel searches under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, and it was reported to have arrested six people under the law's Section 19, three each in Mizoram and Manipur. The official statements do not make clear how that count relates to the total of 18 arrests. No quantity of narcotics seized during these particular searches has been announced.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the coordinated action was a major blow to an international drug trafficking network. He congratulated the central agencies and the police forces of the three states.
The alleged network
Investigators have linked the network to cross-border trafficking of methamphetamine and heroin. The routes described by officials run from Myanmar through Mizoram, Manipur, Assam and Tripura, with onward movement into mainland India and Bangladesh. The probe is also said to have uncovered a wider group of alleged facilitators, shell entities and individuals who moved illicit funds. The accused are alleged to have been involved, and the claims have yet to be tested in court.
Following the money
Officials said the operation reflects a strategy of going after the finances and logistics of trafficking syndicates, rather than relying only on drug seizures. The use of intelligence-sharing, financial profiling and digital forensics was described as central to the raids.
That approach is part of the government's Vision Document on Narcotics Control for 2026–2029, which sets a target of eliminating every drug network in the country by December 31, 2029.
The Northeast's border with Myanmar has long been a focus of anti-narcotics work, because the region lies close to major production areas in the wider Southeast Asian region. Seizures of methamphetamine tablets and heroin in Mizoram and neighbouring states have been reported repeatedly in recent years, and the ED's broader probe is linked to an earlier seizure of methamphetamine tablets and heroin near Seling in Mizoram in August 2025.
The investigation is continuing. Agencies are still tracing the sources of funding and trying to identify others involved in the network, officials said. Further arrests and attachments cannot be ruled out as financial records and digital evidence are examined.
The accused will face proceedings under the applicable narcotics and money-laundering laws. Officials have not yet named the 18 people arrested or said where each of them is being held, and the agencies have not announced when charge sheets are expected to be filed.
