Mumbai: Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday conducted searches at 11 premises across Mumbai and Gujarat in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged jailed drug smuggler Navin Chichkar.
He is suspected of generating proceeds through the sale of cocaine, hydroponic cannabis, LSD and cannabis edibles, and transferring funds abroad through hawala channels and cryptocurrencies. ED’s probe, based on Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and Navi Mumbai Police Anti-Narcotics Cell cases, covers Navin’s financial transactions and associates.
NCB had intercepted an Australia-bound parcel at Mumbai airport in Jan 2025, finding 200 gm of South American-origin cocaine concealed in a projector. The probe led them to Navin.
In April 2025, Navin’s father, builder Gurunath Chichkar (50), died by suicide after shooting himself in his office at Belapur, citing mental stress and harassment caused by repeated summons from NCB and police for the involvement of his two sons in the drug case.
Navin was deported from Malaysia and arrested in May last year. Later, his brother Dheeraj was also arrested in the case after his return to India from Malaysia.
During the investigation, ED allegedly found
cryptocurrency investments and said drug proceeds were deposited with hawala operators, who paid Chichkar in USDT, a US dollar-pegged stablecoin, or Thai baht. Wednesday’s ED searches were aimed at tracing proceeds of crime and their further diversion/layering.
The investigation also indicated a transnational syndicate trafficking cocaine from the US for distribution in India and abroad, with a clearing house agent and hawala operators involved.
