NCB to identify target consumers

PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 15

Huge hauls of ayurvedic medicines containing high content of opium have led to the credence that it has been rapidly becoming a substitute of opium for addicts.

To confirm the matter, agencies were holding a detailed probe to ascertain the motive behind the stocking of such huge quantity of these drugs by its main suppliers in their illegal godowns.

“Though these medicine are not banned as such, non-maintenance of record by these suppliers and stashing of such huge quantities has alerted the agencies and the possibility of these drugs being misused by drug addicts could not be ruled out,” said Sachin Guleria, Superintendent, Narcotics Control Bureau.

The NCB recently made three back-to-back seizures of kamini, barshasha, habbamumski medicines from two major dealers in the city who used to supply these medicines in border districts, including Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Pathankot, besides various parts of Amritsar district. Three persons had been arrested by the city police and the NCB in this regard.

These dealers could not produce any invoice, sale and purchase record to the raiding parties and this was an offence.

“We are now trying to identify target consumers and whether youth are misusing these ayurvedic drugs. Regular use of the same could lead to serious health complications like thinning of blood and damage to liver,” said Kaustubh Sharma, Zonal Director, NCB.

The NCB has been receiving complaints for the past several months while it had issued a warning against illegal stashing around six months ago.

The past two raids had resulted in seizure of over 3 lakh tablets of kamini and barshasha and around 100-kg paste worth crores.