The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has conducted searches at 11 premises across Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Surat and Bhavnagar in connection with an alleged international narcotics syndicate headed by Navin Chichkar, Dhiraj Chichkar and their associates. The agency is probing the alleged laundering of proceeds generated through drug trafficking and their suspected routing into the formal financial system.

The searches were carried out by the ED's Mumbai Zonal Office-I on Wednesday under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The operation aimed to trace the alleged drug trafficking network, identify proceeds of crime and investigate how money generated through the illegal trade was allegedly laundered.