MUMBAI, Dec. 14 -- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized movable assets worth Rs.9.70 crore, including Rs.3.7 crore in cash and gold jewellery and bullion valued at Rs.6 crore, during extensive search operations carried out across 40 locations in several states as part of a money-laundering investigation linked to a highly radicalised terror module affiliated with banned Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). During ED's financial analysis, it was revealed that various individuals linked with Borivali-Padgha ISIS module were allegedly involved in the illegal cutting and smuggling of Khair ( Acacia Katechu) trees from the reserve forest areas of Padgha-Borivali area, the officials said. During course of the search operations, the Khair wood, suspected to have been obtained illegally, was found and accordingly relevant officials of the jurisdictional Forest Department were informed by ED. Details pertaining to alleged illegal hawala operations were also found. The searches, carried out by the ED's Mumbai unit, covered multiple locations in the Padgha-Borivali belt of rural Thane, as well as premises in Ratnagiri (Maharashtra), Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh), Delhi, Kolkata (West Bengal), Hazaribagh (Jharkhand) and Daman (Union Territory of Daman and Diu). In addition to the seizures, the agency froze 25 bank accounts belonging to accused persons and suspects to choke the alleged proceeds of crime and financial channels used by the network, officials said on Saturday. The ED also recovered documents, digital devices and literature allegedly promoting radicalisation, along with records related to several immovable properties linked to the accused and other suspects under scrutiny. The money laundering probe stems from a November 2023 case registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against an alleged ISIS-linked module. The NIA had charge-sheeted 21 persons, including Saquib Nachan, described by investigators as a self-styled ISIS chief (Amir-e-Hind), who died in June after suffering a brain haemorrhage while lodged at Delhi's Tihar Jail. Nachan, previously convicted in connection with the 2002-03 Mumbai blasts, had been arrested by the NIA in December 2023 along with 14 other alleged operatives. The agency said it received intelligence inputs from the Maharashtra ATS indicating that individuals associated with the ISIS-linked module were involved in illegal activities, particularly the trafficking of khair wood, with proceeds suspected to have been diverted to support extremist operations. Financial analysis further revealed monetary linkages between the accused and several other individuals, prompting searches at premises belonging to close associates, family members and entities reflecting suspicious transactions. The NIA has alleged that the accused were part of a highly radicalised module engaged in recruitment, training, procurement of weapons and explosives, and fundraising to sustain terror activities. The case has been registered under provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Explosives Substances Act. The NIA has also claimed that some accused had declared Padgha a "liberated zone" and referred to it as "Al Sham", an Arabic term for the historic region of Greater Syria, allegedly attempting to persuade impressionable Muslim youth to relocate there to strengthen the base. The agency had taken over the investigation from the Delhi Police Special Cell....