Chandigarh resident attempts to send opium to US through courier package; booked

According to ASI, a resident of Fathupur Sahib in Chandigarh - Hardeep Singh - had sent the package.

The Gurugram police on Wednesday booked a man for allegedly trying to send 155 grams of opium to the United States through a courier package. According to the police, the man identified as Hardeep Singh hid the drugs under the sole of the shoes inside the package.

An FIR was registered under Section 18 (c) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act at Udyog Vihar police station. (Representative image)

The incident came to light after the security investigation officer of a courier company in Gurugram's Udyog Vihar area alerted the State Narcotics Control Bureau regarding a suspicious parcel after scanning the package and suspecting the presence of illegal drugs. Immediately, a team of NCB reached the spot and opened the parcel.

"One lower, one T-shirt, and two pairs of shoes were found in the parcel. When I checked the shoes, four plastic packets were found under the sole of the shoes…We found 155 grams of opium drug inside it,” ASI Sandeep Kumar of Haryana state NCB told news agency PTI.

The ASI added that after checking the details of the parcel, it was found that a resident of Fathupur Sahib in Chandigarh - Hardeep Singh - had sent the package. “This parcel was to be sent to Gurinder Singh in Ohio Middletown in the USA,” the police said as quoted by PTI.

The police have registered an FIR under Section 18 (c) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act at Udyog Vihar police station against Singh. According to officials, the accused will be arrested soon.

This comes amid the ongoing crackdown by the AAP government on the drug menace in Punjab.

Recently, Congress MLA Sukhpal Khaira was arrested in connection with a 2015 drugs case. The move triggered a political storm, with Punjab Congress leaders launching a scathing attack on the AAP government.

(With inputs from PTI)