Tramadol seizure: Months on, cops yet to trace main supplier

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 15

Months after the first arrest in May this year, the Punjab Police have been unable to trace the roots of the supply chain of the pharma circulation of anti-depressant tramadol, which is used by addicts.

The address of the main supplier, PP Pharma (Mumbai), that propped up repeatedly during raids, turned out to be fake. While the company has been found non-existent on the ground, the police have not yet found the correct address from the arrested suspects of illegal supplies in Punjab.

From May 20 till August 26, the name of PP Pharma came up during various seizures of over 12 lakh tramadol tablets in Jalandhar, Amritsar and Ghaziabad. The police had arrested at least 10 persons. “Why have the police been unable to get the real address of the suppliers from those arrested?” said a senior official.

Investigations by the Amritsar police had led them to two HP-based manufacturers. Abhimanyu Rana, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Majitha (Amritsar), who is probing the Amritsar case, said, “Manufacturing units in Punjab and HP are using non-existent companies like PP Pharma as a cover to sell tramadol. We know about at least two HP-based firms, Orison Pharma and Unique Formulations, who have been manufacturing tramadol under the cover of PP Pharma.”