The Enforcement Directorate on Friday raided 25 locations across six cities in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Gujarat as part of a money-laundering probe into an alleged illegal codeine-based cough syrup trade racket in Uttar Pradesh.

Sources in the agency said the racket, whose proceeds were estimated at ₹1,000 crore, first came to light in February last year after a large consignment of illicit Phensedyl cough syrup was seized at Sushant Golf City in Lucknow.

Subsequent investigations by the Uttar Pradesh special task force (STF) led to the arrest of Vibhor Rana and Vishal, who disclosed the existence of a much larger network. It was during their interrogation that the name of Varanasi resident and prime accused Shubham Jaiswal surfaced.

Last week, the Yogi Adityanath government registered an FIR against over two dozen people and companies for producing and supplying codeine-mixed spurious solutions in the name of cough syrups.

Codeine is derived from opium poppy and is used in drugs in a regulated manner under the supervision of experts. But the drug mafia was allegedly mixing it in a sugar solution and supplying it to medicine stores across north India, Nepal and Bangladesh.

On December 1, the ED registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to probe the alleged illegal trade and began tracing financial links.

“Raids were conducted at several locations, including Lucknow, Varanasi, Ranchi, Ahmedabad, Jaunpur and Saharanpur, in connection with the case. The locations raided were linked to the absconding Jaiswal and his alleged associates Alok Singh, Amit Singh Tata and suspended Uttar Pradesh police constable Alok Pratap Singh and some others,” said an ED official.

The premises of chartered accountant Vishnu Agarwal, the office of Abbott Pharmaceuticals and two major pharma firms in Ranchi and Ahmedabad were also raided, he added.