India, Jan. 20 -- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has claimed that its money-laundering investigation into illegal sand mining networks operating in Maharashtra's Nagpur and Bhandara districts has uncovered proceeds of crime estimated at over Rs.30 crore.

According to the agency, the syndicates allegedly extracted sand illegally from river ghats in and around Nagpur and Bhandara, but showed it on paper as sand mined from leased ghats in Madhya Pradesh. The accused allegedly used forged Electronic Transit Permits (ETP) to pass off the illegally excavated sand as legally sourced material.

ED officials said the networks would cite ETPs purportedly issued for mining and transport operations in Madhya Pradesh. However, these documents were ...