Punjab Police bust drug cartel operating in 11 states

Chandigarh, July 24 (IANS) In a major crackdown on the supply of pharmaceutical opioids across the country, Punjab Police have busted an inter-state drug cartel operating in more than 50 districts spread across 11 states, using the ‘hawala’ channel route, Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta said on Friday.

As many as 20 people have already been arrested with a huge cache of drugs, drug proceeds money and five vehicles, in an operation that spanned over eight weeks.

Gupta said the drug cartel, known as the ‘Agra Gang’, was pushing pharmaceutical opioids into the markets all across India by diverting drugs in huge quantities from the drug manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers and retail chemists spread out across the country.

Of the 20 arrested so far, 16 are from Punjab, two from Uttar Pradesh and one each from Haryana and Delhi.

With the arrest of these gang members, a well-oiled network of the drug syndicate pushing consignments to the tune of Rs 10-Rs 12 crore of intoxicating pharmaceutical opioids in the form of tablets, capsules, injections and syrups per month into Punjab and other parts of the country has been smashed.

The arrest of the 20 men, including one of the kingpins, was made by the Barnala police from various locations in Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, UP and Delhi.

At least 27,62,137 intoxicating tablets, capsules, injections and syrup bottles were seized from them, along with drug proceeds of Rs 70,03,800, said Gupta.

Interestingly, the Barnala police had in March similarly busted a ‘Mathura Gang’ and seized 44 lakh intoxicants and Rs 1.5 crore drug money in the biggest ever such haul by Punjab Police.

The case began to unravel in May with the arrest of Balwinder Singh and four others along with 2,85,000 intoxicating tablets.

Following these arrests, the Barnala Police spent over two months developing the available leads, laying out elaborate surveillance plans and a trap was then set, with a special team being sent to West Bengal from where Harish was nabbed.

It was Harish who disclosed the modus operandi of the gang and its chain of supply of psychotropic drugs not only in Punjab but in over 11 states of the country.

The DGP said investigations into the gang’s modus operandi so far have revealed that Harish posed as a medical representative to establish contact with chemists and pharmacists by using information like address and phone number, which he easily found on the Internet and social media.

The contraband smugglers used a pre-identified network of couriers operating from major cities like Delhi, Agra, Amritsar, Jaipur, Gwalior and Bhopal and delivered consignments to various locations in several states with the help of fake or undervalued bills using local transporters.

Payment and transfer of money was done using the ‘hawala’ channels, and also through multiple cash transactions into bank accounts especially created for this purpose.

The intoxicants seized are mostly pharmaceutical opioids. Many of these pharmaceutical products have legitimate and important medical use; however these products cannot be sold without a valid medical prescription from a registered medical practitioner.

The gang was diverting these intoxicants, which are medically used for pain relief and treatment for opioid dependence, for extra-medical use, which can lead to major drug overdose issues and even deaths.

–IANS

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