New Delhi: Delhi Police’s crime branch arrested five people and seized 18,47,400 psychotropic tablets valued at an estimated Rs 9 crore, following an investigation into an alleged interstate and international drug trafficking network.The case began on Oct 7 last year, when acting on inputs, police apprehended 50-year-old Mohammad Abid from Madanpur Khadar Extension-I in southeast Delhi. 54,000 Tramadol Hydrochloride tablets (Treken-100), weighing 14.5 kg, were recovered from him, police said.
During the investigation, the alleged supply chain was traced through multiple links. Abid is said to have procured the tablets from Javed Khan, who was arrested later in Oct. Khan allegedly identified Sunil Kumar, who operates a warehousing facility in Samalka, as his source. Kumar and Vishnu Dutt Sharma were arrested in early Nov. Police said Sharma, an exporter dealing primarily in household goods shipments to United Kingdom, allegedly used his export business to conceal prohibited pharmaceutical consignments.Further inquiry led to the arrest of Vikash Singh, who runs a courier service. Another accused, Naushad, was named in the investigation, and proceedings to declare him a proclaimed offender are underway.A container shipment allegedly linked to the network was dispatched to UK disguised as household goods. Acting on information, police coordinated with Customs to halt the consignment. The container’s shipment was halted and returned to India.“On Feb 16, a joint search was conducted at Warehouse No 2, Seabird CFS, at Mundra Port in Gujarat, in the presence of Customs officials, a drugs inspector and an FSL team. Large quantities of Alprazolam, Tramadol, Zolpidem and Nitrazepam tablets were recovered from the container,” DCP (crime) Vikram Singh said.According to investigators, the total seizure includes 13.8 lakh Alprazolam tablets, 94,000 Tramadol tablets, 30,000 Zolpidem tablets, and 52,000 Nitrazepam tablets, in addition to the earlier 54,000 tablets recovered in Delhi. The combined weight of the seized contraband is over 528 kg.
