Chandigarh: Punjab police on Saturday claimed to have busted an interstate network of manufacturing illegal psychotropic substances and supply units running from a pharma factory based in Baddi town of neighbouring Himachal Pradesh.
Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, Gaurav Yadav said the development came after the three-month-long investigations of backward and forward linkages carried out by the Special Task Force, Border Range, Amritsar into the recent arrest of two drug smugglers identified as Sukhwinder Singh in Tarn Taran and Jaspreet Singh in Amritsar. As many as 4.24 lakh narcotic tablets/capsules and Rs 1 lakh drug money were also recovered from them.
Arrests, Seizures And Multi-State Operations Against Drug Racket
Stating that the police had arrested a total of seven drug smugglers/suppliers and made an effective recovery of 70.42 lakh intoxicant tablets/capsules, 725.5 kg intoxicant tramadol powder and Rs 2.37 lakh drug money, police said that searches were also carried in five states including Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
DGP Yadav said that the main kingpin of the racket identified as Alex Paliwal from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh was also nabbed after recovering 9.04 lakh intoxicant tablets/capsules and Rs 1.37 lakh drug money from his possession.
Biogenetic Drug Pvt Ltd And Smilex Pharmachem Drug Industries
He said that following the investigation, the Himachal Pradesh Police teams in the presence of Drug Control Officers Sukhdeep Singh and Ramneek Singh searched one Biogenetic Drug Pvt Ltd and seized records showing that the company had manufactured over 20 crore Alprazolam tablets in just eight months. The records also traced the supply chain to M/s Aster Pharma in Maharashtra, where further investigative measures led to the exposing Biogenetic Drug Private Limited’s sister pharma manufacturing company Smilex Pharmachem Drug Industries based in Baddi, he added.
The DGP said that the subsequent operation targeting Smilex Pharmachem Drug Industries yielded a substantial seizure of 47.32 lahk intoxicant capsules and 725.5 kg of Intoxicant Tramadol Powder— sufficient to manufacture 1.5 crore capsules. The records revealed that Smilex Pharmachem Drug Industries purchased 6,500 kg of intoxicant tramadol powder within a year.
