NCB raids courier office, seizes opium sewn in lehnga-choli

Ludhiana, July 3

Smugglers have been busy adopting new techniques to deliver drugs. Recently, NCB, Chandigarh, busted a drug network by conducting a raid at a courier office near Dhandari in Ludhiana and seized 889 gm of opium sewn inside a parcel of lehnga-choli.

The NCB sleuths have also found that someone had booked the parcel for Canada. The NCB said they suspect a big fish might be behind this and that they already have leads and would soon break the nexus.

Confirming to The Tribune, sources in the NCB said that a tip off was received that a suspicious parcel was booked at a courier office in Ludhiana. The NCB officials immediately reached the courier office on Monday late evening and seized the parcel before it could be shipped to Canada.

Asked if the sender or receiver mentioned on the parcel were actual persons or fake, the NCB officials said that the investigation was on to identify the sender who booked the parcel and once the sender is identified, the receiver would also be identified. So far, a case under the NDPS Act has been registered by the NCB, Chandigarh.

However, in similar cases reported earlier, a fake ID was used to book such parcels meant for foreign shores.

Notably, in January this year, Ludhiana police had arrested two persons identified as Neeraj Chahal of Nurmahal and Mani Kumar of Uppal village for trying to send drugs through a courier to Canada and had seized 16.35 kg of poppy husk, 750 gm of opium and 4,600 intoxicating tablets from the consignment. The duo had booked a courier for Ontario, Canada. On suspicion, the contents of the same were checked and drugs was found.