Guwahati: Thirty-eight teams raided 38 locations across Assam, Mizoram and Manipur on October 23, arresting 18 people and freezing 1,424 bank accounts in what the Home Minister has called Operation Trident.
Amit Shah announced the results on X on Sunday. According to the government's statement, the operation uncovered about Rs 100 crore in hawala transactions, led to the attachment of properties worth Rs 17.82 crore, and recovered 500 detonators and Rs 12 lakh in cash. Shah described the route used by the network as the India-Myanmar-Bangladesh "Death Triangle Corridor".
Reports of the operation have varied in their details, with one account describing it as led by the Narcotics Control Bureau with the Enforcement Directorate joining in, while an ED-sourced report spoke of six arrests and Rs 26.01 crore attached. The figures above are the government's own, and the agencies' internal details have not been independently confirmed.
Northeast India's drug trade has been a persistent enforcement problem. Manipur, Mizoram and Assam sit on or near trafficking routes running from Myanmar's Shan state towards Bangladesh and onward, and seizures of methamphetamine tablets and heroin have been routine for years. Poppy cultivation in Manipur's hill districts has also drawn attention, with police in the state announcing arrests this week of two men suspected of linking cultivators to traffickers in Rajasthan.
The ED's own statement linked the case to three money-laundering prosecutions built on narcotics seizures in Mizoram in 2025 and in Manipur in July 2026. Those cases are separate from the raids announced on Sunday but share the same corridor.
What happens next will depend on how quickly the frozen accounts are examined and whether the 18 arrested are produced for remand and investigation. The government has not released the names of the accused, and none of the allegations has been tested in court.