Ferozepur: Following the deaths of four young men due to drugs in Lakho Ke Behram village, Ferozepur deputy commissioner Deepshikha Sharma said during a press conference at the district administrative complex on Friday that a detailed report had revealed that three of the deceased had pre-existing health conditions, including one with a spinal ulcer, and previously received de-addiction medicines from rehabilitation centres.
The fourth youth, she said, had died after taking a de-addiction pill as an injection. The DC said a special team, including senior medical officers and executive magistrates, had been formed immediately after the incident and the administration had consulted families of the deceased before the team had submitted its findings. The Ferozepur district administration also conducted raids at six medical stores on Friday, sealing four for selling prohibited medicines. They seized more than 8 lakh prohibited narcotic pills.
Police intercepted a massive consignment of 8,18,300 banned habit-forming pills and seized Rs 2.7 lakh in drug money, along with a cash counting machine, from the residence and store of a local medicines seller. Ferozepur senior superintendent of police Bhupinder Singh Sidhu said acting on reliable intelligence, a raid had been conducted at the residence of Narinder Khurana and Rushil Khurana, owners of a medical store. The operation led to the recovery of 300 pregabalin tablets and Rs 2.7 lakh in suspected drug proceeds.
Further searches at the agency’s store uncovered more than 1.18 lakh pregabalin tablets and 7 lakh tapentadol tablets, both classified as habit-forming substances. In addition, the police raided six medical stores where prohibited pills were recovered, and these medical stores were sealed, the SSP said.
Following the findings, another inspection team, including district controlling officer, Ferozepur, Harita Bansal; district controlling officer, Muktsar, Raman Deep Gupta; naib tehsildar, Mallanwala Khas, Parmpal Singh, and police officials, raided the medical stores. The DC emphasised that strict directives have been issued for continuous inspections, and immediate action will be taken against stores selling prohibited medicines.
