Drug syndicate busted, 5 held

The Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) of the UT police has busted an inter-state narcotics syndicate and recovered 742 grams of charas (cannabis concentrate) worth over Rs 2.22 lakh in the illegal market.

According to the police, ASI Rohtas Singh and his team, who were on patrol duty in the early hours of September 8, received information that a group of men was transporting drugs from Himachal Pradesh to Chandigarh in a car. At about 3:15 am, the vehicle was intercepted at the new barricade chowk and four men were arrested. They were identified as Gaurav Kumar (35), a government employee working as a water carrier at the Punjab Secretariat; Ajay (25), Abhishek (23) and Amit Kumar (29), all employed as sweepers at the same secretariat on DC rates. The police recovered 597 grams of charas from their possession and impounded the vehicle.

Based on the disclosures made by Gaurav, the police arrested the main supplier, Kulwant Singh (35), a native of Shimla district, from Parwanoo. The police seized 145 grams of charas from him. Kulwant, a farmer, was cultivating illicit cannabis in his apple orchards at his native place in Shimla district.

Investigations have revealed that the accused, all of whom were also drug addicts, purchased charas in bulk from Kulwant at cheap rates and sold it across Tricity for profit.

Gaurav and Kulwant are on police remand for further interrogation. The other three accused have been sent to judicial custody.