India, March 11 -- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has carried out searches at 16 locations in Mumbai and four other cities as part of its money-laundering investigation into alleged illegal foreign remittances worth Rs.400 crore in lieu of smuggled valuables.

The large-scale foreign remittances were allegedly sent by accused entities in lieu of payments for illegal imports of gold, diamond and precious stones, according to ED. The agency's search operations resulted in the recovery and seizure of cash of Rs.10 lakh, incriminating records and digital devices. Apart from Mumbai, the inter-state search operations were conducted in Jaipur, Ajmer, Udaipur (Rajasthan) and Noida (Uttar Pradesh).

ED had initiated its investigation based on va...