Drug racket busted in Theog, five arrested

In a major crackdown on the heroin (chitta) trade, the police have arrested five drug peddlers from different areas of Theog Subdivision, district Shimla. The accused—Kartik Verma (25) of Theog, Rahul Sharma (25) from Thoond village (Junga), Sandeep (32) of Shapra village (Chopal), Ankush Tanta (35) from Mehana village (Jubbal), and Papil Bhushan (30) of Nihari village (Kotkhai)—were apprehended following a detailed investigation.

According to Theog DSP Siddharth Sharma, the arrests followed a previous case in which a drug peddler was caught near Theog on January 9 with 76 grams of heroin. Backward linkages from that arrest led investigators to identify and track down these five individuals.

The police have registered a case against them under Sections 21, 27A, and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. The ongoing investigation has revealed that the arrested individuals had ties with Harsh Saini, a drug peddler from Roorkee, Uttarakhand, who was earlier nabbed with heroin.

Further arrests have also been made of Harsh Verma from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, and Sunny from Abohar, Fazilika district, Punjab—both alleged associates of Harsh Saini. DSP Sharma stated that the operation is ongoing and more arrests of individuals involved in chitta trafficking are expected in the coming days.