A team of Anti-Narcotic Task Force (ANTF) Mohali today raided the premises of a pharmaceutical unit at Baddi after 12,000 sedative tablets of Alprazolam 0.5 mg were seized from a person. He was also in possession of 1 kg heroin following which an FIR was registered against him two days ago by ANTF Ludhiana.
Since the sedative tablets were manufactured by a Baddi-based firm, ANTF Punjab, headed by DSP Harpal Singh, today raided the unit this morning.
According to the officials of the state drug administration, “The said unit had an authorised licence to manufacture the tablets which were sold on a valid purchase order to a dealer in Uttar Pradesh. Those had, however, been diverted to Punjab for unauthorised sales, according to the probe conducted by the ANTF. Probing further, it became known that the Uttar Pradesh-based dealer had gone missing, thus hinting towards illegal sale of the sedative tablets”.
The state drug officials confirmed that “there was no irregularity in its manufacturing and the firm had a valid licence and product approval. The tablets had been dispatched as per a proper e-way bill to a UP trader. Its information had also been furnished to the drug and police officials as per their standard operating procedure introduced by the state drug authorities for the firms selling such tablets”.
All records pertaining to the sale of alprazolam 0.5 mg executed by the pharmaceutical unit were examined by the ANTF staff as they were trying to ascertain whether the batches of tablets seized were sold to authentic traders or had been surreptitiously diverted to Punjab for illegal sale.
Alprazolam is used to treat anxiety and panic disorders and is often used as a sedative by drug abusers in Punjab. The drug has a dual presence under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
The same firm had been raided on January 8 by team of officials from the Punjab Police and Drugs Department after 50,000 tablets of tramadol were recovered by the Kathunangal police from two car-borne youths in Amritsar. The firm’s records were found in order even in that raid.
