ED conducts raids in 6 states in drugs trafficking linked money laundering case

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday carried out simultaneous searches in six states as part of a money laundering investigation linked to a drugs trafficking syndicate that was first detected by the Punjab Police, official sources said. More than 15 locations in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra were covered as part of a case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said.

The ED case stems from a 2024 registered FIR of the Punjab Police's Special Task Force (STF) under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act against two drug peddlers and an alleged middleman Alex Paliwal. The agency, according to the sources, covered the premises of some pharmaceutical companies named Biogenetic Drugs Pvt Ltd, CB Healthcare, Smilax Pharmachem Drug Industries, Soul Health Care (I) Pvt Ltd and Aster Pharma apart from the locations of some linked individuals. The Punjab Police arrested seven people and seized a cache of narcotics-making pharma drugs as part of its operation undertaken last year.