12.5 lakh tramadol tablets seized from pharma firm

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 18

In one of its biggest drug hauls in the state, the drug wing of the district health department seized a total of 12.5 lakh tablets of tramadol from a local pharmaceutical firm here on Wednesday. The estimated cost of the seized medicines is around Rs 87 lakh.

The opioid-based tablets are a schedule H drug under the NDPS Act and used as a painkiller. It can be sold only on prescription. Earlier, Amritsar-manufactured tramadol tablets were also found to be used by ISIS militants in Syria. The misuse of tablets is well known in the city.

It took the department the entire day to count and seal the seized medicines in 125 boxes which would be produced in a local court on Thursday. The private firm, from where the tablets were seized, has been identified as Ravenbhel Pharmaceuticals located in Baba Budha Avenue opposite New Amritsar locality.

Officials of the department said the firm had no permission to stock tramadol tablets, which are mandatory as per government instructions. The firm had been involved in the unauthorised sale and purchase of the medicine for the last around five months, said an official.

Drug Inspector Bableen Kaur, who led the raid on the premises of the firm, said director of the firm Yogesh Khanna was present on the occasion. “The firm was found involved in

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