Investigators from Australia reached the Capital on Saturday to join the probe into an international drug money laundering syndicate busted on Thursday in which five people were arrested in a synchronised operation conducted in both the countries in coordination with the Enforcement Directorate.

The ED arrested the alleged mastermind Paramdeep Singh Arora along with his brother Gagandeep in Amritsar, while their alleged associate Gaurav Gupta was nabbed from Karol Bagh in Delhi. The agency has obtained seven day custody of all three.

ED investigations have revealed that the accused ran legitimate foreign exchange offices and were also into large-scale genuine transfer of funds on behalf of their clients from India to various countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, the US and Germany.

However, based on the documents received from Australia, phone interceptions and Australian bank transaction papers seized during the searches, the agency has strong reasons to suspect that at the behest of drug trafficking syndicates in Australia, the accused would “mix” the drug money with large pools of legitimate transactions to evade detection.

Preliminary ED investigations have indicated that huge amounts of money originating from Australia were routed to at least three Hong Kong-based companies for further transfers in different countries. While Paramdeep was a director in one of the firms, two others -- Gulshan Kumar and Sanjeev Saini (now under the Australian authorities’ scrutiny) -- had allegedly set up the other two companies in Hong Kong.

Interestingly, the modus operandi employed by the accused persons to legitimise the ill-gotten money was to first raise a demand for supply of goods from the Hong Kong-based companies, show a breach of contract on account of non-supply and then claim huge compensations for the same to receive the amount in “white”.

The investigating agencies have also been able to establish the Indian operators’ purported links with those identified in Australia.

It is alleged that Paramdeep had a wide network of fund collectors in Europe, Australia and the United States through whom the money would be laundered. However, he is believed to have recently started exercising caution after the US federal and local law-enforcement officials earlier this month conducted a massive operation in Los Angeles against money laundering operators working for Mexican drug syndicates.

The Australian Federal Police launched a sustained drive against drug cartels and drug money launders, after the agency smashed an international syndicate with the arrest of 17 people and seizure of a huge consignment of “ecstasy” drug in August 2008.