Guwahati: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on November 4 conducted coordinated raids across Nagaland, Assam, and Tamil Nadu as part of an ongoing probe into alleged illegal foreign transactions disguised as human hair exports.
Officials confirmed that the searches, led by the ED’s Dimapur office, marked the agency’s first action under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Raids were carried out at two premises each in Dimapur and Guwahati, and three locations in Chennai.
The investigation centres around Lima Imsong and others associated with Imsong Global Suppliers Co., a sole proprietorship owned by Imsong. The agency stated that the firm had received foreign inward remittances purportedly as payments for the export of human hair — a trade the ED described as “uncommon and commercially unviable” in Dimapur.
According to investigators, the firm failed to furnish key export documents such as shipping bills and invoices to its authorised bank within the stipulated period. The non-submission of these records and the failure to realise export proceeds are violations of FEMA and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines, the ED noted.
The agency further found that the funds received in Imsong Global’s account were transferred to Inchem India Pvt. Ltd. and the personal accounts of Imsong and his family members. Inchem India Pvt. Ltd., said to be “owned and controlled” by Imsong, was reportedly inactive before the inflow of remittances and recorded losses during the investigation period, indicating it may have been a shell company.
The ED also discovered that money moved through Inchem India was subsequently routed to several suspicious firms in Chennai engaged in the human hair trade. The investigation remains ongoing.
