In an intelligence-based operation against pharma opioids, the Punjab Police busted an interstate network of illegal opioid manufacturing and supply units from pharma factories based in Delhi and Haryana, said Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav on Thursday.

He said the development followed a three-month-long investigation of backward and forward linkages carried out by the Fatehgarh Sahib Police into the arrest of a local drug peddler identified as Gaurav Singh alias Kaala Ambala from Haryana, who was arrested after the recovery of 44 Leegesic injections and 44 Avil injections.

The DGP said following the trail after the arrest of a supplier, Fatehgarh Police teams managed to trace and arrest the manufacturer of illegal pharma identified as Sumit Agarwal of Delhi, who is the owner of Paksons Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd having units in Rohini in Delhi and Bahadurgarh in Haryana.

Yadav said the team comprising police personnel from CIA Fatehgarh Sahib and two drug inspectors also raided the pharma factory in Bahadurgarh in the presence of their local drug inspector and seized numerous illegal trading, financials, transport documents along with approximately six Lakh unlabelled injections from the factory. This is in addition to the 3.24 lakh tablets, capsules, injections and Rs 2.20 lakh drug money already recovered in this case, he added.

So far, police have arrested seven persons in this case. Five other arrested persons have been identified as Mohammad Arbaaz, Mohammad Salman, Mohammad Sahbez, Rakesh Kumar and Ghanshyam Sharma.

Addressing a press conference, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ropar Range, Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, who was accompanied by SSP Fatehgarh Sahib Dr Ravjot Kaur Grewal said following Gaurav’s arrest, the Fatehgarh Sahib Police raided the illegal chemists, pharmacies and illegal godowns, which led to the arrest of three more suppliers identified as Mohammad Arbaaz, Mohammad Salman and Mohammad Sahbez.

Bhullar said that during the interrogation of these three suppliers, it came to light that they were purchasing drugs from Agra. Police have also arrested another accused identified as Rakesh Kumar, who owns an illegal godown of drugs in Agra. Rakesh revealed that he is in contact with a person identified as Ghanshyam Sharma of Loni Dehat in Ghaziabad, who is the wholesaler of drugs and has his own medical agency Shri Shyama, the IGP said, adding that Ghanshyam was arrested on 2 November 2023, leading to the arrest of manufacturer Sumit Agarwal.