The Enforcement Directorate raided 10 residential and business premises linked with eight people allegedly involved in the smuggling of areca nuts from Myanmar. The money trail of the alleged smugglers in Mizoram and Assam was traced to traders in New Delhi, the agency said on Thursday (August 6, 2026).The ED, in its statement, said sleuths of its unit in Mizoram’s Aizawl conducted search operations under a relevant Section of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at the identified locations across southern Assam’s Cachar, Hailakandi, and Sribhumi districts on Wednesday (August 5, 2026).The seven people accused of involvement in the illegal trade of Burmese areca nuts are Jakir Hussain, Kabir Hussain, Anjan Kumar Paul, Pinku Paul, Romi Jain, Anowar Hussain, Khalil Uddin, and Dipankar Deb.“The operation was in connection with an investigation into an organised network engaged in cross-border smuggling of areca nuts from Myanmar into Mizoram, and their onward sale and distribution to purchasers or financiers based in Assam and Delhi,” the ED said.The ED initiated an investigation based on a first information report registered by the Anti-Corruption Branch of the Central Bureau of Investigation in Imphal against public servants and private persons, following a Gauhati High Court order on July 16, 2024, in a PIL (public interest litigation) in 2022.“The FIR/PIL alleged large-scale smuggling of areca nuts from Myanmar into Champhai, Mizoram, using fraudulent e-way bills and forged documents, despite owners not being GST registered. E-way bills amounting to approximately ₹86.25 crore under CGST and ₹251.19 Crore under SGST were found to have been issued from financial year 2021-22 to 2023-24, with Zokhawthar emerging as a major transit point,” the ED said.Zokhawthar is a border trade point in Mizoram’s Champhai district, about 180 km southeast of Aizawl.