New Delhi, Jun 17 (PTI) 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. PTI NES KSS KSS

Money laundering investigation prompts coordinated multi-state searches under PMLA in connection with narcotics trafficking syndicate and linked entities A PMLA investigation targets proceeds linked to a narcotics trafficking syndicate first detected by the Punjab Police; the Enforcement Directorate executed coordinated searches at over fifteen locations across six states, including premises of several pharmaceutical companies and residences of linked individuals. The PMLA case derives from a 2024 Punjab Police Special Task Force FIR under the NDPS framework against two drug peddlers and an alleged middleman, following an operation that led to seven arrests and seizure of narcotics-making pharmaceutical inputs.