‘India will hammer drug cartels’: Amit Shah hails Operation Trident that unearthed hawala network

Operation Trident was a simultaneous, multi-agency crackdown on an international narcotics cartel operating across India, Myanmar, and Bangladesh. Its importance lies in attacking the network’s financial backbone as well as its trafficking routes. The Narcotics Control Bureau coordinated with state police and the Enforcement Directorate.

On October 23, 38 composite teams raided 38 locations. The operation led to 18 arrests, the freezing of 1,424 bank accounts, and the discovery of hawala transactions worth Rs 100 crore. Authorities also attached properties worth Rs 17.82 crore, seized 500 detonators, and recovered Rs 12 lakh in cash.

The raids covered Aizawl, Champhai, Zokhawthar, Churachandpur, and Assam’s Cachar corridor. Investigators had mapped targets through covert intelligence and joint probes. The action followed the arrest of Myanmar-based cartel leader Thangcintuang earlier this year and was designed to prevent suspects from fleeing or hiding assets.

Hawala is an informal system for transferring value through a network of brokers, often called hawaladars, rather than by sending money through conventional banks. The sender gives money to one broker, who instructs a trusted broker elsewhere to pay the recipient. The brokers later settle what they owe through other transactions or offsets. This explanation uses established knowledge because the article does not define hawala.

For example, someone in one country may hand cash to a broker and provide a code to a recipient across the border. The second broker pays the recipient, while the original funds may never cross the border physically. Records can be informal, and transactions may be hidden from normal banking oversight.

In Operation Trident, investigators uncovered hawala transactions worth Rs 100 crore. That finding mattered because it exposed an alleged financial channel connected to the narcotics cartel. Freezing accounts and tracing linked transactions helped authorities attack the network’s financial arteries.

Operation Trident had a substantial financial and enforcement scale. Authorities arrested 18 people and froze 1,424 bank accounts. Investigators uncovered hawala transactions worth Rs 100 crore, indicating a large suspected money-transfer network linked to the cartel. The raids were conducted across three states.

The financial action included attaching properties worth Rs 17.82 crore. Officers also seized 500 detonators and Rs 12 lakh in cash. These figures show that the operation addressed more than drugs alone. It targeted assets, money channels, and materials found during searches. The article does not give a total weight or value for narcotics seized.

The Narcotics Control Bureau deployed 38 teams to raid 38 locations simultaneously. The locations included urban hubs and border corridors in Assam, Mizoram, and Manipur. Investigators aimed to stop suspects from fleeing and prevent the concealment or movement of illicit assets during the coordinated searches.

Thangcintuang, also known as Chintuang or Tluanga, was identified as the Myanmar-based leader of the narcotics cartel. The article describes him as the kingpin who directed cross-border trafficking. He was arrested in Delhi in May this year after inter-state surveillance and intelligence-led operations.

The cartel’s route ran through Myanmar, Mizoram, Manipur, Assam, and Tripura before reaching mainland India and Bangladesh. It carried methamphetamine and heroin along this corridor. The article also calls the broader route the “Death Triangle Corridor,” linking the network’s activity across three countries.

His arrest was an earlier breakthrough in the investigation, but authorities continued examining the cartel’s wider structure. Operation Trident then struck its alleged financial and logistical support across 38 locations. The raids were intended to dismantle the remaining operational and financial backbone of the network.

A cartel can survive a drug seizure if its money channels and operating bases remain intact. That is why investigators targeted financial networks and logistics hubs at the same time. The aim was to disrupt the system that funds purchases, moves narcotics, supports operatives, and protects accumulated assets. The article describes these targets as the cartel’s financial arteries and logistics nodes.

Operation Trident used 38 multi-agency teams against 38 pre-identified locations. Raids covered border corridors such as Zokhawthar, operational bases in Churachandpur, and the Cachar transit corridor. At the same time, agencies froze bank accounts, examined finances, and attached properties.

The coordinated timing reduced the chance that suspects could warn one another, flee, or hide illicit assets. The government said searches, enquiries, and financial audits happened simultaneously despite difficult terrain. This approach sought to damage both the cartel’s ability to operate and its ability to recover financially.

When authorities freeze bank accounts, the people controlling them may lose access to money needed for transport, communication, recruitment, and further drug purchases. Attaching property can prevent the network from using or selling assets believed to be linked to criminal activity. Disrupting money flows also makes it harder to pay partners and move proceeds. These are general consequences; the article does not describe every practical effect.

In Operation Trident, authorities froze 1,424 bank accounts and attached properties worth Rs 17.82 crore. They also uncovered hawala transactions worth Rs 100 crore and seized Rs 12 lakh in cash. Together, these actions targeted both formal accounts and informal transfer channels.

The immediate result described by the Home Minister was a rupture in the cartel’s finances. The wider goal was to dismantle its operational and financial backbone. Continued investigations and financial audits could help trace linked assets and identify further participants, although the article does not report later outcomes.

Drug trafficking produces illegal revenue for criminal organizations. Those groups then need ways to move, store, and use the money without attracting attention. Hawala can provide an informal cross-border value-transfer channel, while money laundering generally means disguising criminal proceeds or making them appear legitimate. The article reports these elements together, but it does not provide a detailed laundering scheme.

In this case, the cartel allegedly moved methamphetamine and heroin through Myanmar, Mizoram, Manipur, Assam, and Tripura into India and Bangladesh. Investigators uncovered hawala transactions worth Rs 100 crore and traced financial links through a 360-degree probe. Authorities also froze bank accounts and attached properties.

Together, trafficking, informal transfers, and concealed assets can help a criminal organization expand its routes and sustain its operations. Disrupting any one part may hurt the network, but Operation Trident sought to strike several parts simultaneously. Its focus included drugs, logistics, accounts, properties, and financial audits.