Opium concealed inside courier parcel seized in Gurugram

1.2kg of opium was seized from a shipment at a courier office in Gurugram that was meant to be sent to England. An investigation is underway.

Gurugram: At least 1.2kg of opium was seized from a shipment at a courier office in Udyog Vihar that was meant to be sent to England, officers of the Haryana State Narcotics Control Bureau (HSNCB) said on Saturday.

Opium concealed inside courier parcel seized in Gurugram

Investigators said the matter came to light at about 2pm on Friday, when the employees of the courier company were scanning the shipments when they came across a suspicious box. They said the box contained toiletries, but the scanned images were inconsistent with the items in the box after which a security team was alerted.

As per investigators, security team officials also checked the scanned images and found them suspicious and alerted the HSNCB’s Gurugram unit.

They said that a HSNCB team reached the courier office and opened up the parcel and found three toothpaste tubes, a face wash tube, an oil bottle, a face cream, two soaps and two T-shirts.

A senior HSNCB official said that all these items were opened up that led to the recovery of 1.2kg of opium concealed in the facewash tube, oil and face cream bottle.

“The sender had provided his address as Sector 10 in Panchkula, but it was surely fake. The sender had also provided his Aadhaar card details, which are being verified. It was to be delivered to a person hailing from India and a resident of Sabell Road in Smethwick, England,” the HSNCB official said.

On a complaint from HSNCB assistant sub-inspector Bijender Kumar, an FIR was registered against the sender and the receiver under section 18(c) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act at Udyog Vihar police station on Friday evening, police said.

Inspector Ashok Dagar, an official of the HSNCB, said they are trying to trace the suspect who sent the consignment from Panchkula. He said the seized contraband will be sent for analysis at a forensic laboratory in Bhondsi.

“We will soon send a team to the Panchkula address for verification purposes. However, in all such cases, fake names and addresses are used,” Dagar said.

Dagar added that they are also trying to get the CCTV footage of the suspect who might have visited the courier office with the consignment.