- September 3, 2026
ED, NCB Launch Pan-India Crackdown On Drug Cartels; PMLA Searches Underway | Exclusive
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The probe goes beyond drug seizures, with agencies targeting the financial networks and overseas links sustaining the syndicates.
According to top ED sources, the syndicates systematically relied on unauthorised hawala operators to move drug proceeds and settle international transactions.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) have intensified a pan-India crackdown on multi-state drug trafficking syndicates, targeting not only narcotics networks but also the financial and logistical infrastructure sustaining them, top ED sources told CNN-News18.
Searches and investigations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) are currently underway across multiple states, including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana and Kerala, as agencies probe hawala networks, international smuggling routes, digital payment channels and the laundering of drug proceeds through real estate and other assets.
The investigation has led agencies to key nodes of several syndicates operating across state and international borders, with substantial quantities of methamphetamine, MDMA, hashish oil, hybrid ganja and ganja intercepted during the wider crackdown.
Millions of rupees in unaccounted cash, foreign currencies and precious metals, including gold and silver, have also been recovered during the investigations, sources said.
Hawala, UPI And Digital Payments Used To Move Drug Proceeds
According to top ED sources, the syndicates systematically relied on unauthorised hawala operators to move drug proceeds and settle international transactions.
The hawala networks allegedly used token-based systems and remote instructions communicated through messaging applications such as WhatsApp.
Investigators have also detected the use of digital payment platforms, including PhonePe scanners, as well as unexplained UPI transfers linked to suspected drug transactions.
The financial trail has emerged as a major focus of the probe as agencies seek to identify how proceeds generated from narcotics trafficking were moved, layered and ultimately brought back into the legitimate financial system.
Drug Money Routed Into Real Estate, Shrimp Farms And Luxury Assets
The investigation has revealed that proceeds of crime were routinely integrated into real estate, shrimp farms, vehicles and luxury items, according to sources.
Properties were frequently registered in the names of family members, wives and unrelated third parties in an attempt to conceal the identities of the actual beneficiaries and distance key operatives from assets acquired using suspected drug proceeds.
Investigators have also found the use of third-party bank accounts and a series of gold loans raised in the names of family members and associates.
Fraudulent income-tax filings, allegedly facilitated with the assistance of professionals, were also used in some cases to regularise and layer illicit funds, sources said.
Sri Lanka, Bangkok And Dubai Links Surface In Probe
The investigation has uncovered extensive cross-border supply chains involving Sri Lankan nationals as well as coordinators based overseas.
Sources said Bangkok-based coordinators were involved in operations aimed at bypassing airport customs controls through the Green Channel, while parts of the hawala network were allegedly managed from Dubai.
The international linkages have widened the scope of the investigation beyond domestic trafficking networks, with agencies now examining how narcotics consignments, payments and instructions moved between India and overseas locations.
PMLA Searches Underway Across Multiple Cities
Active PMLA searches are underway at residential and business premises across several major hubs, including Chennai, Ramanathapuram, Pudukkottai, Kolar, Ranga Reddy, Kochi and Kozhikode.
Investigators are looking for additional financial trails, property deeds, electronic evidence and previously undisclosed assets that could establish the flow and eventual investment of narcotics proceeds.
The searches are also aimed at identifying associates, financiers, hawala operators and other facilitators who may not have been directly involved in handling narcotics but allegedly enabled the larger trafficking network.
Agencies Shift Focus From Peddlers To Entire Cartels
Top ED sources told CNN-News18 that central intelligence agencies and law-enforcement bodies have moved beyond primarily targeting street-level peddlers and are increasingly adopting a “Detect, Disrupt and Destroy” framework aimed at dismantling entire transnational cartels and their logistical infrastructure.
Under the Narco-Coordination Centre framework, financial investigations are being pursued in parallel through the Enforcement Directorate under the PMLA.
The objective is to systematically identify and seize assets, target hawala operators and weaken the financial backbone that allows drug syndicates to continue operating even after individual consignments or peddlers are intercepted.
High-Tech Smuggling Forces Wider Multi-Agency Response
Intelligence inputs have also flagged a rise in increasingly sophisticated methods of narcotics trafficking, including the use of encrypted communication channels, digital payment platforms, darknet networks and international sea and air transit corridors.
The changing nature of trafficking operations has required greater coordination between central intelligence and enforcement agencies as well as the Indian Navy, Coast Guard and international law-enforcement bodies to intercept incoming consignments and trace the networks behind them.
About the Author
Group Editor, Investigations and Security Affairs, Network18
September 03, 2026, 12:58 IST
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