Punjab Police bust inter-state drug cartel operating from UP; main supplier held with over 7 lakh pharma opioids and injectible narcotics

Chandigarh/Fatehgarh Sahib, July 23

In a major crackdown, the Punjab Police on Friday late evening busted an inter-state pharmaceutical drug cartel after making a big seizure of over 7 lakh tablets/ capsules/ injections of pharma opioids during a raid at an illegal storage godown in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh.

The police have also arrested the main supplier identified as Ashish Vishkarma, a resident of Khalasi Line near ITC in Saharanpur, UP. The accused had been illegally supplying these opioid pharmaceutical drugs to some of the districts in Punjab including Fatehgarh Sahib, SAS Nagar, SBS Nagar, Rupnagar, Patiala and Ludhiana from last five years.

Divulging more details, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Ropar Range Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the police have recovered 4.98 lakh tablets of Lomotil, 97200 tablets of Alprazolam, 75,840 of Proxyvon capsules, 21600 vials of Avil, 16725 injections of Buprenorphine and 550 tablets of Tramadol.

He said that, as part of the investigations into the recovery of 175 injections of Buprenorphine and 175 vials of Avil from two persons, identified as Sukhwinder Singh alias Kala and Harjaspreet Singh alias Jassa, both residents of Chamkaur Sahib on July 14, 2022, police teams from Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) Sirhind led by Incharge Inspector Amarbir Singh conducted a raid at the storage godown in the presence of local Uttar Pradesh Police.

SSP Fatehgarh Sahib Dr Ravjot Grewal said that the arrested person has been brought to Punjab after completing all legal formalities. She said that DSP Investigations Jaspinder Singh Gill and DSP Bassi Pathana Amritpal Singh played a vital role in the execution of this operation.

She said an FIR under Sections 22C-61-85 of the NDPS Act had already been registered at Badali Ala Singh Police Station in Fatehgarh Sahib and further investigations into the case are on.

Meanwhile, the accused was wanted by Fatehgarh Police in at least four commercial cases registered under NDPS Act at police stations including Amloh, Sirhind, Badali Ala Singh and Khamano.