The narco-hawala nexus in India's Northeast is as much a financial-security problem as a law-and-order one. Discuss with reference to recent multi-agency operations.

In October 2026, Operation Trident raided 38 locations across Assam, Mizoram and Manipur at the same time. The NCB, the ED and three State police forces ran it together. It traced about ₹100 crore in hawala transactions and froze 1,424 bank accounts [1]. Drug cartels in the Northeast survive on money flows as much as on smuggling routes, so they must be fought on both fronts.

Financial-security dimension

• Hawala channels: informal money transfers move drug proceeds outside the banking system. About ₹100 crore of such transfers were traced [1].
• Mule accounts: 1,424 accounts were frozen but only 18 people were arrested, about 79 accounts per arrest. This suggests the proceeds were spread across borrowed accounts [1].
• Recovery gap: only ₹17.82 crore in assets was attached and ₹12 lakh in cash seized. That is under one-fifth of the traced flows [1].
• Terror-financing risk: 500 detonators were seized along with the cash [1]. This points to drug money reaching armed groups.

Law-and-order dimension

• Porous border corridors: Champhai and Zokhawthar in Mizoram are sensitive border crossing points [1].
• Conflict zones: raids also covered Churachandpur in Manipur [1]. Mass account freezes there could alienate the communities whose tip-offs such operations depend on.
• Youth addiction: demand keeps supply alive. The Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (NMBA) has reached 14.07 crore people, including 4.90 crore young people [3].
• Federal limits: policing is a State subject, but cartels operate across State lines and the international border.

Multi-agency response: strengths and gaps

• Integrated strike: NCB-led raids with the ED and State police were built on shared intelligence [1]. The focus shifted from counting seizures to breaking the network's finances.
• Legal toolkit: the NDPS Act, 1985 is the base law. In 2020 the NIA was empowered under it to investigate narco-terror cases [3]. The detonators make an early NIA handover sensible, to avoid parallel probes.
• Demand side: the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment launched NMBA on 15 August 2020 in 272 districts; it now covers all districts. The NCB is also setting up the MANAS helpline [2]. Both should be focused on the raided districts.

Operation Trident shows that the narco-hawala nexus is one problem with a financial side and a policing side. The way forward is to:

• turn account freezes into confiscation and convictions;
• separate kingpins from mule-account holders;
• make NCB–ED–NIA–State coordination permanent;
• pair enforcement with de-addiction.

This "follow the money, treat the user" approach supports SDG 16.4 (cutting illicit financial and arms flows) and SDG 3.5 (preventing and treating substance abuse).