Punjab busts drug trade racket

Chandigarh, March 6 (IANS) In the biggest-ever drug haul, Punjab Police on Friday said it busted a racket involving trade of psychotropic drugs with the arrest of four persons and seizure of 40,01,040 tablets and injections worth at least Rs 4 crore.Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta told the media that a godown located in Saraswati Kund area in Mathura in Uttar Pradesh which stored the drugs was also busted by a police team from Barnala town.While three of the accused were arrested in Barnala, the fourth was nabbed in Mathura, said the DGP, adding that thousands of youth had been saved from drug abuse with this seizure as on an average one youth consumes 10 tablets or capsules a day.Giving details of the operation, the DGP said a trap was laid by a police party led by Senior Superintendent of Police Sandeep Goel.Gupta said Mohan Lal was first nabbed with 800 intoxicating tablets (Alprasafe 0.5 mg). His investigation led to the arrest of two more people, Balwinder Kumar and Naresh Mittal, with 1,700 intoxicating tablets (Clovidol 100 SR).In addition, 1,800 tablets of Clovidol 100 SR), one Innova car and Rs 5 lakh were also recovered from the accused.Further interrogation of the main accused Mittal, who was receiving the drugs at his medical store, had unveiled a chain of supply of psychotropic drugs into Punjab from other states, said the DGP, adding further investigations are likely to unmask many other players in this illegal racket.–IANSvg/sdr/