New Delhi: Delhi Police have busted a major interstate psychotropic drugs racket with the arrest of three persons and the seizure of 31 kilograms of Alprazolam tablets, officials said on Saturday.
The accused were allegedly part of an organised network involved in the illegal manufacture, transportation and distribution of the banned psychotropic substance across Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and the National Capital Region (NCR). The crackdown followed intelligence-driven surveillance targeting drug peddlers operating in the NCR.
Acting on specific inputs, police teams intercepted a car bearing a Uttar Pradesh registration number near the Nand Nagri Bus Depot and arrested two accused on the spot. They were later identified as Shamim, a resident of Badaun in Uttar Pradesh, and Rajeev Sharma from Bulandshahr. A third accused, Mohit Gupta, also from Bulandshahr, was arrested subsequently during the course of the investigation.
During the search, police recovered 31 kilograms of Alprazolam tablets, estimated to be around three lakh pills. Officials said the seizure falls under the “commercial quantity” category as defined under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, with the commercial threshold for Alprazolam being 100 grams.
In addition to the tablets, police seized 11 kilograms of aluminium foil printed with “Alprazolam,” 25 kilograms of PVC sheet rolls used for packaging, 20 rubber stamps bearing batch numbers along with manufacturing and expiry dates, and the vehicle used to transport the consignment. The recovery of packaging material and printing tools pointed to a large-scale illegal pharmaceutical manufacturing operation, police said.
An FIR under relevant provisions of the NDPS Act was registered on January 29. During investigation, the car was found to be registered in the name of Mohit Gupta, who was later apprehended based on information provided by the other accused.
During interrogation, Sharma allegedly told police that he used to collect Alprazolam tablets from Shamim and his associate Randeep in Himachal Pradesh on Gupta’s instructions and supplied them to local pharmacies in Bulandshahr. Shamim allegedly disclosed that he and his partner were operating an illegal manufacturing unit in Parwanoo, Himachal Pradesh, where the tablets were produced and supplied to distributors in Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
Police said Gupta, who allegedly runs a medical firm in Bulandshahr, procured the illegal tablets through his firm and distributed them to pharmacies in Agra and Bulandshahr. Further investigation is underway to identify other links in the supply chain.
