Patiala: Patiala police have arrested two members of an inter-state gang engaged in supplying restricted psychotropic medicines, leading to the recovery of 1.05 lakh tablets.
The accused have been identified as Kulwinder Singh and Palwinder Singh.
The seized drug, as informed by the Patiala police, is lomotil, used to treat chronic cases of diarrhoea.
A scheduled drug under the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, it cannot be sold without the prescription of a registered medical practitioner, said police. Lomotil tablets contain diphenoxylate, a psychotropic drug of the phenylpiperidine series, which is used as a combination drug with atropine for the treatment of diarrhoea.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Patiala SSP Varun Sharma said, “Through preliminary interrogation, both accused revealed that they had been engaged in the illegal trade for a long time. They would procure the banned tablets from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, at cheaper rates and sell them to their associates in Punjab’s Malwa region.”
The accused were booked under Sections 22/61/85 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
As per the FIR, police received a tip-off that two drug peddlers were entering Punjab via Patiala district’s Rajpura town with a large quantity of restricted medicines.
Acting on the information, a checkpoint was set up near Jashan Hotel on the Delhi-Amritsar national highway near Rajpura. There, a team from the Rajpura police stopped a bus for checking. Two passengers, who were carrying brown bags, tried to slip away on spotting the police. However, police promptly caught them and recovered 1.05 lakh lomotil tablets from their possession.
