ED probes LeT funding link in Mundra drug haul
On Wednesday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched five locations in Delhi as part of a money-laundering investigation. Authorities are looking into claims that money from the 2021 Mundra Port heroin seizure was used to fund the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiyyaba (LeT).
The searches targeted places linked to Delhi businessman Harpreet Singh Talwar, also known as Kabir Talwar, who runs several nightclubs, and another location connected to someone named Shamshudeen. The operation was carried out under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after new information suggested that drug money was invested in Delhi’s entertainment and hospitality businesses.
Talwar was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in August 2022 for his alleged role in this case and was recently granted bail by the Gujarat High Court. Since then, authorities have increased their focus on his suspected involvement in laundering drug money through legal businesses. These recent raids mark a major step forward in what officials call a narco-terrorism investigation. In September 2021, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 2,988.21 kilograms of high-quality Afghan heroin at Mundra Port in Gujarat’s Kutch district.
The shipment, worth about Rs 21,000 crore on the international illegal drug market, came through Iran, hidden in a load of semi-processed talc stones, which are used in many industries. The NIA later called this a “test case” for smuggling drugs into India disguised as regular commercial imports.
The ED started a case under the PMLA soon after the heroin was seized. Since then, investigators have focused on following the money linked to the drug shipment. The latest searches are based on evidence that some of the proceeds from the sale were allegedly diverted to Delhi nightclubs run by Talwar and his associates. Investigators believe these investments helped launder illegal funds and may have generated money used for terror financing.
In its chargesheet, the NIA said that money from this heroin network was used to fund LeT’s activities. The agency described the Mundra shipment as a trial run to see if large amounts of heroin could be smuggled into India using commercial routes. The NIA believes that if such shipments succeed, Pakistan-based terror groups could raise large, untraceable sums for recruitment, training, and buying weapons. This case shows how organised crime and terrorism can overlap. Drug trafficking gives groups like LeT a way to get money that is harder to track than hawala or foreign donations. By moving the money through businesses like Delhi nightclubs, the network allegedly tried to make illegal funds look legitimate while supporting terrorist operations abroad.
The ED’s operation on Wednesday aims to locate documents and digital evidence related to these money flows. Officials are checking bank records, property documents, and business transactions linked to the raided sites to see how the drug money was moved and mixed in. Security agencies have long seen the Mundra case as a worrying example of how Pakistan-based groups use drug trafficking to fund their activities.
Using commercial shipping routes and hiding heroin as industrial raw material shows how advanced these criminal networks are. Now that the ED is looking into the suspected investment of this money in Delhi’s nightlife businesses, the investigation has reached an important stage focused on the financial systems behind terrorist activities.
More searches and questioning are expected soon as agencies try to trace the full path from the Mundra shipment to its final recipients. The investigation is ongoing and involves several agencies, with both the ED and NIA following leads about terror financing through drug trafficking.
