India, July 9 -- The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday conducted searches in multiple cities of Punjab and Haryana as part of a money-laundering investigation into a 'donkey route' case related to illegal immigrants who were deported by the US earlier this year, official sources said.

Offices and houses of suspects and agents in 11 cities, including Amritsar, Sangrur, Patiala and Moga in Punjab and Ambala, Kurukshetra and Karnal in Haryana, are being raided under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said.

The money-laundering case stems from 19 FIRs registered by Punjab and Haryana police departments against the travel/visa agents and middlemen who cheated Indian citizens willing to go to the US illegally, they ...