Reported by Roopak Goswami
Guwahati: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has raided nine locations in Mizoram’s Champhai district as part of an investigation into an alleged Rs 970-crore areca nut smuggling and money laundering racket linked to Myanmar.
The searches were conducted on June 4 at the residences and business establishments of several traders and facilitators in Champhai under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The case originates from an FIR registered by the CBI’s Anti-Corruption Branch in Imphal following a Gauhati High Court order in a public interest litigation concerning the illegal import of dry areca nuts from Myanmar into India.
According to the ED, its investigation has uncovered a well-organised cross-border network in which areca nuts were allegedly smuggled across the Tiau River from Myanmar into Mizoram through Zokhawthar and Champhai without customs clearance.
The agency said local facilitators received and stored the consignments in Champhai before arranging their transport to Vairengte on the Assam-Mizoram border. The operations were allegedly financed by traders and financiers based in Silchar, Assam, who transferred funds through banking channels to accounts operated by facilitators in Mizoram.
Investigators further alleged that payments to suppliers in Myanmar were made in Indian currency and later converted into Myanmar currency through money exchangers operating near the international border.
A key finding of the probe relates to the alleged use of forged documents to legitimise the movement of smuggled consignments. The ED said fraudulent GST e-way bills involving transactions worth over Rs 337 crore were generated in Champhai between 2021 and 2024 using fake plantation certificates and fabricated customs clearance documents.
According to the agency, the plantation owners in whose names the documents were issued were not registered under the GST system, raising suspicion that the paperwork was created solely to facilitate transportation of the illegally imported areca nuts.
The ED said the proceeds generated from the alleged smuggling operation are estimated to exceed Rs 970 crore, making it one of the largest financial crime investigations linked to cross-border trade in the region.
Further investigation is underway.