NEW DELHI/AIZAWL, June 4: The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday conducted searches at multiple locations along the Myanmar border in Mizoram as part of a Rs 970-crore money laundering investigation into a cross-border Myanmarese areca nut smuggling racket.
Officials of the central agency said nine premises of prominent local facilitators of the alleged smuggling network in the border town of Champhai were raided.
The raids follow the registration of a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on a CBI FIR filed on charges of “large-scale” smuggling of dry areca nuts illegally imported from Myanmar into India through Champhai, the ED said in a statement.
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The CBI FIR, it added, was registered on the Gauhati High Court’s July 2024 order while hearing a PIL on the said issue.
The ED said proceeds of crime worth Rs 970 crore were generated through this smuggling network over 13 years between 2013-25.
Myanmarese nationals “smuggled” dry areca nuts (also called Burmese areca nut) across the Tiu river into India without customs clearance at Zokhawthar and Champhai and handed over consignments to local facilitators at the border, it alleged.
“The local facilitators stored the smuggled areca nuts in godowns at Champhai and coordinated their transportation to Vairengte at the Assam-Mizoram border.
“The operations were financed by Silchar (Assam)-based traders and financiers who remitted large sums through banking channels into the accounts of the Mizoram-based facilitators,” it said.
Payments to Myanmarese suppliers were made in Indian currency and subsequently converted into the currency of that country through money exchangers operating near the border, according to the agency.
The ED probe found that e-way bills of Rs 251.19 crore (SGST) and Rs 86.25 crore (CGST) were “fraudulently” issued in Champhai district during 2021-2024 for the movement of areca nuts, using “forged” plantation certificates and false customs clearance documents, despite the plantation owners not being registered under the GST.
The ED alleged that local facilitators received commission amounts ranging between Rs 2-15 per kilogram for procurement, transportation, escorting, and customs release-related activities.
It said a “key element” of the modus operandi was using local persons as “fronts” before Customs authorities to secure provisional release of seized consignments, with payments of Rs 20 lakh to over Rs 1 crore made toward Customs release proceedings per seizure.
In several seizure cases, the ED found that unrelated bills of entry were “fraudulently” submitted before Customs authorities to project smuggled areca nuts as legally imported goods. “Analysis of the bank accounts of the accused persons revealed that proceeds of crime aggregating over Rs 970 crore were routed through multiple accounts between 2013-2025,” it said. (PTI)
