Punjab Police busts illegal opioid supply network; 6 arrested

Chandigarh, Jul 31 (PTI) Punjab Police on Thursday said it has unearthed an illegal opioid supply network with the arrest of six persons and seized Tramadol tablets from their possession.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that Amritsar Police unearthed the Tramadol supply chain, which originated from a small recovery of 35 tablets in Amritsar and led to a manufacturing unit in Haridwar, Uttarakhand.

The breakthrough came following the arrest of a local peddler, Ravinder Singh alias Nikka, in Amritsar.

Probing backward and forward linkages, police seized 74,465 Tramadol tablets, 50 Alprazolam tablets, 325 kg of raw material used for manufacturing Tramadol, and Rs 7.69 lakh in cash within just 15 days.

Yadav said based on sequential disclosures and raids, six arrests were made, which included chemists, distributors, and the plant head of Lucent Biotech Limited.

Hari Kishore, plant manager of Lucent Biotech, Roorkee, Bikram, owner-cum-partner of Recall Lifesciences, Roorkee, Manish Kumar Arora, Pooran Jatav, and Kulwinder Singh alias Kinda, a medical store owner at Kathu Nangal in Amritsar district, were among the arrested persons.

"The seized strips bore 'government supply only -- not for sale' tag, raising serious concerns about illegal diversion of medical stock," the DGP said.

Some key pharma units found violating norms have been sealed and their records are being scrutinised, the DGP said.

Sharing more details, Amritsar Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said a joint team of Amritsar Police and drug inspectors raided some pharma units in Roorkee, seizing 4,130 unlabelled Tramadol tablets and 325 kg of unregistered raw material.

This was in addition to the earlier recovery of more than 70,000 tablets and Rs 7.69 lakh in cash, he said.

Bhullar said during interrogation, Hari Kishore admitted to printing 'government supply only -- not for sale' tags on the strips of 'TRAKEM-100' Tramadol tablet strips at the manufacturing unit.

The accused also admitted that Tramadol tablets manufactured for another legal firm were sold illegally to Recall Lifesciences, Bhullar said.

More persons involved in the racket have been identified and raids are being conducted to arrest them. PTI CHS ARI