The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday, April 9, 2024 carried out raids in multiple cities in Tamil Nadu as part of a drugs trafficking-linked money laundering investigation against former DMK functionary Jaffer Sadiq and others, officials said. Jaffer Sadiq is also a film producer. He was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) after Rs 2,000 crore worth of drugs were seized.
Jaffer was associated with MK Stalin's DMK, however, he was expelled from the party later. The probing agency has lodged a money laundering case in this drug syndicate. Officials familiar with the development said ED has launched a money laundering probe in the matter and was carrying out searches at around 25 locations in several cities in Tamil Nadu including Chennai, Madurai and Tiruchirapalli.
The NCB has said that Sadiq’s links with Tamil and Hindi film financers, some “high-profile” people and some instances of “political funding” were under its scanner. Jaffer Sadiq, a Tamil film producer and an expelled DMK man, allegedly worked as a mastermind in smuggling out narcotics worth Rs. 2000 crore abroad mixed with multi-grain mix and grated coconut in the last three years. While Sadiq was on the run, the NCB team, armed with a court order, broke open his house in his absence in Santhome and carried out searches.