30.2 lakh opioids seized in raid at Paonta pharma unit

Ambika Sharma
Tribune News Service
Solan, May 28

After a night-long raid, over 30.2 lakh tablets of opioids were seized from Unique Formulations located at Devi Nagar in Paonta Sahib of Sirmaur district today. The Amritsar rural police, which led the raid, was assisted by the local police, Assistant Drugs Controller, Nahan, and drug inspectors from Punjab and Paonta Sahib. Tramadol tablets and capsules and alprazolam tablets valued at over Rs 15 crore were seized, said DGP Sanjay Kundu. He added that the Himahcal Police provided all necessary support and assistance to the Punjab Police in the raid.

The Amritsar rural police had recently confiscated 50,000 tramadol tablets that had been illegally smuggled into Punjab and were manufactured by Unique Formulations, Paonta Sahib.

Sunny Kaushal, Assistant Drugs Controller, Nahan, said that the company had secured a licence in June 2020 and the permission to manufacture tramadol capsules and tablets as well as alprazolam tablets was secured in November last year.

Intriguingly, the firm focused on manufacturing these two drugs, as they are used as sedatives and hence are in demand by drug addicts. “No manufacturing was under way in the factory when the raid started around 6 pm yesterday. The manufacturing chemist, proprietor and a quality control staffer, besides a few others were present at the factory during the raid, which continued till 3 am today,” said Kaushal.

The Punjab Police arrested company proprietor Manish Mohan and confiscated the stock of the drugs as well as their relevant records, he said.

It was found in the raid that e-way bills showing drug sales were credited to Mansi Medicos, Mayur Vihar, East Delhi. The capsules siezed by the Amritsar police were, however, marketed by PB Medicos, located at Raj Towers, Haus Khas, third floor, New Delhi. However, no record of sale or agreement with PB Medicos was found. “It appears to be a fictitious firm used to divert drug supply to Delhi on paper while it is conveniently sent to Amritsar,” said officials.

“The Assistant Drugs Controller, Nahan, has written a letter to the State Drugs Controller, Delhi, to ascertain if PB Medicos was registered and authorised to market drugs or not,” said State Drugs Controller (SDC), Navneet Marwaha. The company has to seek a licence under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act to sell medicines.

Marwaha said that action was being initiated against the firm for not properly maintaining records and other production-related mandates. “The Assistant Drugs Controller, Nahan, has issued a show-cause notice to the company and asked it to stop production. “To curb such nefarious activities, all Assistant Drugs Controllers and Deputy Drugs Controllers have been directed to keep a watch on such units,” he added.

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