Tuesday | Apr 15 2025 | 07:46:20 PM
New Delhi, April 7
The Enforcement Directorate arrested a Punjab-based “kingpin” of an international narcotics syndicate under the anti-money laundering law.
ED stated that Akshay Chhabra was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The agency also raided the premises of Chhabra in October last year. The money laundering case against Chhabra and his associates stems from a complaint lodged by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) alleging that 20.32 kg of heroin was seized from his possession.
As per the ED, Chhabra was the kingpin of an international drug syndicate being run from Ludhiana in Punjab. He managed to import drugs from Afghanistan in the name of shell/fake entities and supplied them further.
Chhabra and his associates were “involved” in the manufacturing and sale of illicit drugs; they used to process smuggled morphine/raw heroin through two Afghanistan nationals and distributed the processed heroin to various drug dealers, ED added.
The ED said that huge proceeds of crime were generated out of this illegal drug trade, which were infused in immovable properties, liquor business, and transferred out of India through different hawala channels.
