Punjab Police bust illegal opioid manufacturing units

Chandigarh: In an intelligence-based operation, Punjab Police on Thursday said it busted an interstate network of illegal opioid manufacturing and supply units from pharma factories based in Delhi and Haryana.

Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said here that the development came after the three-month-long investigations carried out by the Fatehgarh Sahib Police into the arrest of alleged drug peddler Gaurav Singh, alias Kaala Ambala, of Haryana, who was nabbed after recovery of 44 leegesic injections and 44 avil injections.

Yadav said following the trail after the arrest of a supplier, police teams have managed to trace and arrest the manufacturer of illegal pharma identified as Sumit Agarwal of Delhi, who is the owner of Paksons Pharmaceuticals Private Ltd, having units in Delhi's Rohini and Haryana's Bahadurgarh.

He said the police also raided the pharma factory in Bahadurgarh in the presence of drug inspector and seized numerous illegal trading, financials, transport documents along with approximately Rs 6 lakh unlabelled injections from the factory.

This is in addition to the 3.24 lakh tablets, capsules, injections and vials and Rs 2.20 lakh drug money already recovered in this case, he added.

The police have arrested seven people. Five other accused have been identified as Mohammad Arbaaz, Mohammad Salman, Mohammad Sahbez, Rakesh Kumar, and Ghanshyam Sharma.

Inspector General of Police (Ropar Range) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, said that following the arrest of Gaurav, the police raided illegal chemists, pharmacies and godowns, which led to the arrest of three more suppliers -- Mohammad Arbaaz, Mohammad Salman, and Mohammad Sahbez.

He said during the interrogation it came to light that they were purchasing drugs from Agra. Police teams have arrested another accused person identified as Rakesh Kumar, who owns an illegal godown of drugs in Agra