NCB bursts Rs 60 crore drug haul; seizes over nine lakh illegal psychotropic tablets

During the past week, the Ahmedabad Zonal Unit of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) raided two pharmaceutical companies in Vadodara and Mumbai and seized more than nine lakh illegal psychotropic tablets worth Rs 60 crore in the international market.

A couple of weeks ago, zonal director of NCB, Hari Om Gandhi, received a tip-off about a consignment (package) to be sent to Spain through the postal service. He immediately sent teams to the postal service department in Ahmedabad.

During the course of the investigation, NCB officers recovered 100 tablets of Oxycodone, an illegal psychotropic substance, which were to be delivered in Spain.

Investigations led the NCB’s Ahmedabad Zonal officers to Dolphin Pharma in Vadodara, which manufactured Oxycodone.

On August 9, an NCB team raided the residences and offices of Dolphin Pharma chiefs in Vadodara and seized around nine lakh tablets containing psychotropic substances from one of their houses.

NCB arrested Anil Luhar, director of Dolphin Pharma and Zahid Shekh, the manager, on August 10. During interrogation, they revealed they sourced some of the drugs from Mumbai based KC Pharma.

Luhar and Shekh said they used to sell the tablets in foreign markets through international postal services. As the company made many approved products, they never faced any hurdles while making deliveries. The drugs were mostly delivered to the UK, Europe, and the US.