The Punjab police on Friday said they have busted an inter-state drug cartel operating in more than 50 districts of the country spread across 11 States, using the hawala channel route.
“Twenty persons have already been arrested with a huge cache of drugs, proceeds from drugs and five vehicles, in an operation that spanned over eight weeks,” said Punjab Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta.
“The drug cartel, known as the ‘Agra gang’, was pushing pharmaceutical opioids into the markets all across India by diverting drugs in huge quantities from the drug manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers and retail chemists spread out across the country. Of the 20 people arrested so far, 16 are from Punjab, two from Uttar Pradesh and one each from Haryana and Delhi,” he said.
With the arrest of these gang members, Mr. Gupta said, a well-oiled network pushing consignments to the tune of ₹10-12 crore of intoxicating pharmaceutical opioids in the form of tablets, capsules, injections and syrups into Punjab and other parts of the country has been smashed.
“The gang was busted by a Barnala police team. The arrests of the 20 men, including one of the cartel’s kingpins, were made from various locations in Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. As many as 27,62,137 intoxicating tablets, capsules, injections and syrup bottles were seized from them, along with proceeds of ₹70,03,800,” said Mr. Gupta.
“Many of these pharmaceutical products have legitimate and important medical use; however, these products cannot be sold without a valid medical prescription from a registered medical practitioner. The gang was diverting these drugs, which are medically used for pain relief and treatment for opioid dependence, for extra-medical use, which can lead to major drug overdose issues and even deaths,” he said.
