E-Paper
Interstate drug racket busted; 7 arrested
70.42 lakh intoxicating tablets and 700 kg drug powder have been seized. It began unfolding in February when two smugglers were caught in Amritsar. From them, cops reached a kingpin based in Saharanpur of Uttar Pradesh and then came across a drug company and its sister firm in HP.
In a major intelligence-based operation, the special task force (STF) of the Punjab police busted an interstate network, involved in manufacturing and supplying illegal psychotropic substances, operating from a pharma factory based in Baddi of Himachal Pradesh, said director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav here on Saturday.
The operation, which was taken up in five states — Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, saw the arrest of seven drug smugglers/suppliers besides the seizure of 70.42 lakh intoxicating tablets/capsules, 725.5 kg tramadol powder and ₹2.37 lakh drug money.
The development came after the STF, Border range, Amritsar, carried out a three-month-long meticulous investigation into backward and forward linkages of “smugglers” Sukhwinder Singh, alias Dhami, of Kot Muhammad Khan village in Tarn Taran and Jaspreet Singh, alias Jass, of Govind Nagar, Amritsar. They were caught from Beas in February this year. As many as 4.24 lakh narcotic tablets/capsules and ₹1 lakh drug money were seized from them.
DGP Yadav said that following the trail after the two arrests, police teams led by STF SP Vishaljit Singh and DSP Vavinder Kumar managed to trace and arrest the main kingpin of the racket, identified as Alex Paliwal, from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh. As many as 9.04 lakh intoxicating tablets/capsules and ₹1.37 lakh drug money were seized from him.
Based on the information Paliwal provided, the operation was extended to Himachal Pradesh where police teams, in the presence of drug control officers Sukhdeep Singh and Ramneek Singh, scrutinised Biogenetic Drug Private Limited and seized records, showing that it had manufactured over 20 crore Alprazolam tablets in just eight months. “The records traced the supply chain to M/s Aster Pharma in Maharashtra. Further probe exposed Biogenetic Drug Private Limited’s sister company — Smilex Pharmachem Drug Industries — based in Baddi,” the DGP said.
According to Yadav, the subsequent operation targeting Smilex Pharmachem Drug Industries led to seizure of 47.32 lakh intoxicating capsules and 725.5 kg tramadol powder, sufficient to manufacture 1.5 crore capsules. The records revealed that Smilex Pharmachem Drug Industries purchased 6,500 kg tramadol powder within a year.
The DGP further informed that concurrent investigations into transportation and distribution led to the apprehension of individuals, including Intezar Salmani, Prince Salmani, Baljinder Singh and Suba Singh. Police teams recovered another chunk of 9.80 lakh intoxicating tablets/capsules from a transport vehicle near the Chandigarh railway station. Further investigations are on and more arrests are expected, he added.
The case was registered on February 20 under Sections 22-C, 25, 27-A and 29 of the NDPS Act at the STF police station, SAS Nagar.
