Over 7.93 lakh pharma opioids recovered from across Punjab in one week: Police


: Over 7.93 lakh pharma opioids have been recovered from across Punjab in the last one week and over 500 drug smugglers arrested in the state during the same period, a senior police official said here on Monday.

Addressing the weekly press conference here, Inspector General of Police Sukhchain Singh Gill said the 7.93 lakh pharma opioids include 6.82 lakh intoxicant tablets, 17,169 injectable narcotics, 85,442 intoxicant capsules, and 8,648 vials of intoxicant syrup.

The major recovery comes after the Fatehgarh Sahib police had busted a pharmaceutical drug cartel after making a big seizure of over 7 lakh tablets/capsules/injections of pharma opioids during a raid at an illegal storage godown in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, Gill said.

The IG said that thorough investigations into a previous case, wherein police had arrested two persons after recovering 175 injections of Buprenorphine and 175 vials of Avil, helped the Fatehgarh Sahib police to nab the main supplier.

He said the Punjab police have arrested 508 drug smugglers/suppliers after registering 389 first information reports, including 40 commercial, under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act across the state in the last one week.

In addition to this, the police have also arrested 31 proclaimed offenders and absconders wanted in NDPS cases in the past week, he added.

Apart from recovering pharma opioids in massive quantities, the police have also seized 8.37 kg heroin, 32.28 kg opium, 53.2 kg Ganja, and 140 quintals of poppy husk besides recovering 11.73 lakh drug money during cordon and search operations in drug-affected areas and by laying nakas at vulnerable routes across the state.

He said all the CPs/SSPs have been asked to conduct meetings with hospitals and NGOs providing ambulance services to get the list of genuine ambulances so that safe passage could be provided to patients while keeping a vigil on the anti-social elements using emergency service vehicles for committing crimes.