Cobrapost (New Delhi): When the Guwahati Zonal Unit of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized a haul of areca nut sometime back, little did the DRI sleuths realize it would lead to the busting of a well-oiled betel nut smuggling syndicate found by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to have laundered more than Rs. 1500 crore. This syndicate operated through a network of suppliers, facilitators, consignees/financiers, invoice providers, and logistics providers. The tentacles of this syndicate were spread across Assam, Mizoram, West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh.

These shocking facts have emerged after ED conducted search operations at 20 locations in these four states on July 3, 2026 and the investigation that followed. The ED investigation began following the DRI seizure of 655.32 tons of betel nut smuggled into the country by the syndicate from across the Indo-Myanmar border. DRI had also seized vehicles used for shipping the consignments.

The syndicate, as the ED investigation has revealed, operated through a network of suppliers, facilitators, consignees/financiers, invoice providers, and logistics providers. Hmingthanzami, Lalrinchhani, and Lalenkawli worked as suppliers for the syndicate who would smuggled betel nut through the Indo-Myanmar border via the Champhai–Zokhawthar route. These suppliers, mainly based in the Champhai district of Mizoram, were proprietors of local businesses. Two of them are married. The facilitators working for the syndicate were based in Assam. They are Abub Ahmed Mazumder and Prodip Kumar Paul. Mazumder has been identified as the key facilitator of the syndicate, whereas Paul was the proprietor of Sarada Traders. According to the investigation, consignees or financiers of the syndicate were spread across West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. These were Jay Matajee Enterprises of Falakata, Nabadwip Arecanut Processing Pvt. Ltd. of Nabadwip, Shubh Trading Company of Varanasi, and Chimera Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. of Varanasi.

Among them all, however, Shashi Kumar Choudhary of Kolkata stands out. The proprietor of SK Enterprises worked as invoice provider for the syndicate, facilitating circular trading of the smuggled goods, to layer the transactions at every step and keep the trail from scrutiny. Last but not least, Bikaner Assam Roadlines India Limited, based in Guwahati, provided logistics to the syndicate for shipping the consignments of the smuggled betel nut for the distribution chain.

In order to provide some semblance of legitimacy to its operations, the syndicate used forged GST invoices, bogus supplier/buyer firms, and false transport papers. The proceeds from the sale of the smuggled nut received from buyers in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh were paid to Silchar-based hawala operators. The money was then deposited mainly in the transit accounts of the Mizoram Rural Bank by the hawala operators to "mask the real depositors".

Finally, says ED, large cash withdrawals from these accounts were made and sent back to the Myanmar suppliers through hawala operators, completing the laundering cycle.

A graphic representation of the route and the modus operandi used by the syndicate to smuggle in the betel nut consignments from across the Indo-Myanmar border is here.

Source: ED Press Release dated July 6, 2026.

The search operations led to the seizure of incriminating documents, including diaries containing trading entries, title deeds and property documents held by the accused and their family members, business records, electronic devices, and cash. The ED has also put 33 bank accounts under freeze.

Upon the scrutiny of bank accounts, GST returns, and international trade data, the anti-money laundering agency has come to the conclusion that the syndicate generated more than Rs. 1500 crore, even as it layered the proceeds of crime "through a complex web of current accounts, intermediate accounts and front/shell entities, before being routed back to the smugglers". The members of the syndicate also used the proceeds to make huge investments in prime real estate in Champhai, Silchar, Guwahati, Nabadwip, Falakata, Kolkata, and Varanasi.

The findings of the Enforcement Directorate is no less a vindication of the stories that Cobrapost has done in recent times exposing the Kamla Pasand Group and Manoj Agarwal, who supplies betel nut to the group. A recurring feature of these stories is that most of their trade is conducted in cash, off the books, and the money is moved through hawala operators. Our story on the Kamla Pasand Group, titled 'When Money Laundering Comes Packaged in Pan Masala' had quoted the PBPT Act Adjudicating Authority as saying, "It must be noted that the benami transactions running into crores of rupees under sham dealings were being managed by each member in the group as a common syndicate towards the furtherance of the common objective of laundering the money raised through tax evasion. Each one of them has helped each other and abetted in the transaction of one another and contributed to the crime in each case."

The second story, based on our interaction with whistleblower Kush Jaiswal, had suggested that Manoj Agarwal conducted business transactions in cash. The cash was moved through hawala operators, deposited in private banks against sale proceeds, and from there back to Agarwal's entities through RTGS. Only a fraction of sale proceeds was accounted causing the state exchequer a loss of Rs. 70,00–Rs. 80,000 crore in tax evasion.

The ED action against the smuggling syndicate suggests that the government agencies have finally begun looking into the shadowy betel nut trade.