Three land in police net with sedatives

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 14

The police have arrested three persons after a huge quantity of sedative pills were recovered from their possession.

Acting on a tip-off, the Jandiala police arrested Paramjit Singh with 21,000 capsules and 4,500 tramadol tablets from Bandala village. However, his accomplice, identified as Jaspal Singh, managed to give the police the slip.

Amritsar (Rural) SSP Vikram Jeet Duggal said the police had received a tip-off the suspects were involved in selling intoxicants in the area. He said police teams were told to raid their residences.

In another incident, the police arrested Mandeep Singh of Nizzar village with 500 intoxicant tablets. After an investigation, another haul of intoxicant tablets were recovered.

During the investigation, it was found that the suspect brought the tablets from Gurpreet Singh Gopi, a resident of Verka, who has a wholesale medicine shop in the Katra Sher Singh area. The police, along with officials of Drug Department, raided the shop and seized 14,500 tablets of tramadol. The owner, who could not produce any documents regarding the drugs, was also arrested.

The police have registered two separate cases under the NDPS Act against the suspects.

Tramadol, an opiod analgesic used as a pain killer after surgeries, are being misused by addicts for their dose.

The Health Department has sought a ban as it is not only being misused for drug addiction but also being diverted to terrorist organisations.

A huge quantity of tramadol was also recovered by the police and the Drug Department in the past.

In January last year, the police had confiscated a large haul of tramadol and nabbed three persons in this connection.

The Drug Department had also suspended the licenses of three Amritsar-based firms involved in manufacturing of tramadol. The consignments meant for a Dubai firm was being diverted to Syria for terrorist organisations, the investigations had revealed.