New Delhi, Nov 26 , The Delhi Police Special Cell has arrested a wanted member of a drug syndicate and recovered13 cartons of Alprazolam tablets (total 4,68,000 tablets) worth Rs two crore from his possession, an official said on Sunday.
The accused was identified as Ashwani Kumar a.k.a Ashu (41), a resident of Rohini.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Ingit Pratap Singh said that in October, three members of this syndicate, namely Md. Faizan, Md. Zubair, and Rekha, were arrested with a substantial quantity of drugs.
During their interrogation, it was revealed that Ashwani used to supply drugs in bulk to Zubair. Subsequently, raids were conducted to apprehend Ashwani, but he absconded and continuously changed his hideouts to evade arrest in the case.
“However, the relentless efforts of the Special Cell team paid off when the hideout of the accused, Ashwani, was located in Sector 24, Rohini, Delhi. Consequently, a police team conducted a raid, leading to his apprehension from Sector 24, Rohini,” said the DCP.
He was arrested in the case and taken into two days of police remand. “During his police custody remand, 13 cartons of Alprazolam 0.5 mg tablets (totaling 4,68,000 tablets) were recovered at his instance from the transport booking office at Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar, Samaypur Badli, Delhi. Additionally, three mobile phones and some incriminating documents were seized from his possession,” said the DCP.
On interrogation, it was revealed that initially Ashwani worked with pharmaceutical companies as a medical representative (MR). However, due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a slump in his salary, leading him to leave the job.
Thereafter, he opened a medical store named ‘Ishan Medicine House’ in Udyog Nagar, Delhi, in partnership with one Rakesh.
“The drug licence for the same was cancelled by the drug department in July 2023. Nonetheless, he continued the medicine work by obtaining the licence in the name of one of his employees, namely Satish, in Udyog Nagar,” said the DCP.
“Given the lucrative profits associated with contraband drugs like Alprazolam, he began procuring and supplying these drugs, sourcing them from various pharmaceutical companies and distributing them to associates, including Zubair,” the DCP added.
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