Drug money to the tune of 70 lakh and over 27 intoxicants were seized in a major drug cartel busting operation carried out by Punjab’s Barnala Police. As per the press release issued by the office of the Senior Superintendent of Police, Barnala, the interstate drug cartel was operating across 11 states and over 50 districts in the country. At least twenty people have been arrested in connection with the racket. Of the twenty people who have been arrested, sixteen are from Punjab, two are from Uttar Pradesh, one is from Haryana and one from Delhi.
“Barnala Police busted an Inter-State gang of Drug Syndicates supplying illegal Psychotropic Drugs in 11 States and over 50 Districts of the country. Intoxicating tablets, capsules, injections, syrups to the tune of 27,62,137 were seized with arrest of 20 persons. Drug Money Rs 70,03,800/- and 5 vehicles were also recovered,” the release stated.
As per the release, the Barnala Police team carried out the operation over 8 weeks under the supervision of SSP Barnala Sandeep Goel.
“The team kept close surveillance, conducted raids and unmasked the modus operandi of Drug Syndicate known as “AGRA GANG”, leading to arrest of one of the kingpins and their associates from State of Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi,” it added.
The gang used to push pharmaceutical opioid drugs into the market by the way of diversion from manufacturers, wholesalers and retail chemists located at different locations in the country.
“One of the gang members, Harish, posed as a medical representative to establish contact with chemists and pharmacists by using information like address and phone number easily available over the internet and social media. The contraband smugglers used a pre-identified network of couriers /transport /goods carriers, operating from major cities Delhi, Agra, Amritsar, Jaipur, Gwalior, Bhopal and delivered consignments to various locations in several states with help of fake/undervalued bills using local transporters,” the release stated.
The payment used to be carried out via multiple cash transactions into bank accounts that were created especially for this purpose and for the use of the Hawala process. The team is also investigating the possibility of money laundering.
Previously, the Barnala Police had busted ‘Mathura Gang’ in March and recovered over 44 lakh intoxicants and 1.5 crore drug money.
