NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police has busted an interstate syndicate involved in the illegal supply of banned pharmaceutical drugs and seized 54,000 Tramadol tablets worth more than Rs 32 lakh, an official said on Monday.
Five people have been arrested for their alleged involvement, which is suspected to have international links, official said.
Acting on specific intelligence, police laid a trap in Madanpur Khadar Extension-I in southeast Delhi on October 7 and apprehended a man carrying a large bag.
The man, identified as Mohd Abid (50), a resident of Madanpur Khadar, was found in possession of 54,000 tablets of Treken-100, a Tramadol-based psychotropic medicine banned under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
Tramadol, a strictly controlled opioid painkiller, was notified as a psychotropic substance under the Act in 2018. An FIR under relevant provisions of the NDPS Act was registered, and Abid was arrested.
During questioning, Abid disclosed that he had been working with associate Javed Khan, a resident of Johri Farm in Jamia Nagar. Khan was subsequently arrested. Further probe led to the arrest of three more persons — Sunil Kumar, who operates a warehouse in Samalka; Vishnu Dutt Sharma, an exporter from Dwarka; and Vikas Singh alias Ishwar Yadav, a business owner in Rangpuri.
Police said the five were part of an organised network responsible for procuring, storing and distributing banned Tramadol tablets across Delhi and other states. The scale of the seizure indicates possible international supply links, now under investigation.