NCB seizes 35 lakh habit-forming pills

The Amritsar zone of the Narcotics Control Bureau recovered over 35 lakh intoxicating tablets from a godown in Paonta Sahib, following the disclosures of Kaushik, the owner of a pharmaceutical firm who was recently arrested. Kaushik was trying to flee the country when he was held at the Delhi airport recently as a look-out circular had been issued against him.

Earlier, the NCB has recovered over 80 lakh intoxicating tablets from a godown near Bawana in Delhi. With this, a total of 1.17 crore tablets of habit-forming drugs have been recovered so far in the case.

The seizure was made following investigations into the seizure of intoxicants in Amritsar in November and December. Till now, the NCB has arrested over six persons in the racket.

Sources said Kaushik was a distributor initially, but later opened a firm in Delhi. However, his licence was cancelled by the authorities over allegations of pilferage of habit-forming drugs. He later opened another firm in Himachal Pradesh. Sources said he was diverting drugs to Punjab.