20 Arrested As Punjab Police Bust Major Interstate Drug Racket In 8-Week Op
The group used to be busted by way of a Barnala Police staff, officers stated (Representational)
Chandigarh:
In a big crackdown on trafficking of pharmaceutical opioids around the nation, the Punjab Police on Friday stated it has busted a drug cartel, running throughout 11 states, and arrested 20 other people.
The Punjab Police additionally termed the motion as “one of the vital greatest crackdowns on provide of pharmaceutical opioids around the nation”.
20 other people had been arrested with an enormous cache of substances and drug proceeds – cash and 5 cars – in an operation that spanned over 8 weeks, Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta stated.
Giving main points of the case and the investigations, he stated the drug cartel, referred to as the “Agra gang”, used to be pushing pharmaceutical opioids (medication) into the markets all throughout India by way of diverting medication in massive amounts from the producers, providers, wholesalers and retail chemists.
Of the 20 other people arrested thus far, 16 are from Punjab, two are from UP and one every is from Haryana and Delhi, the Director Basic of Police stated in a commentary.
“With the arrest of those gang participants, a well-oiled community of drug syndicate pushing consignments to the track of 10-12 crores of intoxicating pharmaceutical opioids within the type of pills / drugs / injections / syrups monthly into Punjab and different portions of the rustic has been completely smashed and 1000’s of youngster who had been or may have were given addicted to those medication had been stored from drug abuse and dependancy,” he stated.
The group used to be busted by way of a Barnala Police staff, comprising Pragya Jain, an Indian Police Carrier (IPS) officer, and different officials operating below the supervision of senior police officer Sandeep Goel.
The arrests of the 20 males, together with one of the vital cartel’s kingpins, had been constituted of more than a few places in Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
As many as 27,62,137 pills, drugs, injections and syrup bottles had been seized from them, at the side of drug proceeds cash of Rs 70,03,800, Dinkar Gupta stated.
The DGP stated the case started to resolve in Would possibly with the arrest of Balwinder Singh alias Nikka and 4 others, at the side of 2,85,000 pills all the way through an investigation into an FIR registered below the Narcotic Medication and Psychotropic Elements (NDPS) Act at Mehal Kalan police station.
This additional ended in the arrest of 1 Julfikar Ali with 12,000 intoxicating pills, the DGP stated, including his wondering published the position of Harish as one of the vital masterminds within the inflow and provide of pharmaceutical opioids into Punjab.
“Following those arrests, the Barnala Police spent over two months creating the to be had leads, laying out elaborate surveillance plans and a lure used to be then laid out, with a different staff being despatched to West Bengal from the place Harish used to be arrested. It used to be Harish who disclosed the modus operandi of the group and its chain of provide of psychotropic medication now not simply in Punjab however in over 11 states of the rustic,” he stated.
The DGP stated investigations into the group’s modus operandi thus far have published that Harish posed as a clinical consultant to ascertain touch with chemists and pharmacists by way of the usage of knowledge comparable to cope with and call quantity, which he simply discovered over the web and social media.
The contraband smugglers used a pre-identified community of couriers, running from primary towns together with Delhi, Agra, Amritsar, Jaipur, Gwalior and Bhopal, and delivered consignments to more than a few places in numerous states with the assistance of undervalued expenses the usage of native transporters.
“Fee and switch of cash used to be completed the usage of the hawala channels, and likewise via more than one money transactions into financial institution accounts particularly created for this objective,” he stated.
“The group used to be diverting those intoxicants, which can be medically used for ache reduction and remedy for opioid dependence, for extra-medical use, which may end up in primary drug overdose problems or even deaths,” he stated.
