Lucknow

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday conducted searches at multiple locations in four states in a money laundering investigation linked to an alleged terror funding and illegal infiltration network, officials said.

They said about 13 premises in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and West Bengal were raided under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the Lucknow zonal office of the central agency.

The 2024 ED case stems from an Uttar Pradesh ATS (Anti-Terrorist Squad) FIR related to an organised syndicate allegedly involved in facilitating illegal infiltration of Rohingya and Bangladeshi nationals into India, arranging forged Indian identity documents and aiding their rehabilitation in various parts of the country.

The ATS probe found a "deep-rooted" financial network involving certain charitable trusts and entities allegedly receiving substantial foreign contributions and diverting the same through multiple bank accounts, mule accounts and layered transactions to facilitate illegal activities, the officials said.

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It also indicated the use of cash withdrawals and small-value transfers to suspected beneficiaries, they said.