Delhi: 7.24 lakh pills meant to be used as recreational drug seized and three arrested

Over 7.24 lakh tablets and capsules, meant to treat anxiety and serve as sedatives, have been seized and three suspects arrested in an operation carried out in Delhi,

Over 7.24 lakh tablets and capsules, meant to treat anxiety and serve as sedatives, have been seized and three suspects arrested in an operation carried out in Delhi, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said on Sunday.

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KPS Malhotra, a zonal director with the narcotics watchdog, estimated the total worth of the seized pills in the legal market to be over ₹70 lakh. “Each of these pills cost about ₹10. People who use it for recreation pay ₹30-35 for each pill,” said Malhotra.

Malhotra said they were investigating the role of pharmaceutical companies, dealers and retailers in the matter. “We have identified seven-eight pharmaceutical companies who had manufactured these drugs, but it is unlikely that the firms would be involved in this racket. However, we are probing everyone’s role,” he said.

The officer said the breakthrough came on January 10 when the NCB received a tip-off about the illegal trade psychotropic medicines. “We got to know that these were being delivered through a courier company in Delhi. We intercepted a parcel and recovered 50,000 tablets of tramadol (a painkiller),” Malhotra said.

The NCB team identified the designated receiver of the seized drugs as a resident of Ludhiana. “We arrested a chemist named Manoj Kumar,” said the officer.

The NCB said Kumar did not have the license to trade in the medicines he was receiving. “But the huge margins in the illegal supply of these psychotropic medicines lured him into this crime. He used to further supply these medicines to other parts of Punjab,” said the officer.

Through Kumar, the investigators reached the courier, Gaurav Kumar Aggarwal, a resident of Agra. “Gaurav used to work as an agent for the wholesale medicine dealers in Agra. “He used to procure such consignments from various sources in Agra,” said the officer.

Thereafter, the NCB also arrested Mohit, who worked as a commission agent in this field.

“On the whole, we recovered 7.24 lakh tablets, 1,400 vials of an injection meant to serve as an anaesthesia, but used by drug addicts as a substitute for heroin, and 80 bottles of cough syrup,” Malhotra said.

The officer said his team is also likely to raid some shops in Delhi’s Bhagirath Palace, where medicines are sold wholesale.