Ireland ? Detectives raided businesses and homes in England and Ireland on Thursday in hopes of discovering a paper trail that could lead to the reputed chief of the Irish Republican Army.

For three decades, anti-terrorist police have monitored and arrested Thomas “Slab” Murphy but never charged him with a crime.

Police identify him as a multimillionaire fuel smuggler and the chief of staff of the outlawed IRA. Anti-racketeering agencies in the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland say they suspect Murphy has built a massive portfolio of stocks and property.

On Thursday, the United Kingdom Assets Recovery Agency – a two-year-old unit armed with powers to seize the cash, homes, cars and investments of members of Northern Ireland’s myriad paramilitary groups – announced it was investigating a property portfolio in Manchester, in northwest England, that involves about 250 residences and businesses worth an estimated $55 million.

Police, led by Belfast detectives and anti-racketeering inspectors, carted out records from a company called the Craven Group in the southwest Manchester suburb of Sale. They also searched the high-security mansion of businessman Dermot Craven.