New Delhi, May 2 (UNI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that the seizure of drugs worth Rs 547 crore by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) shows that “Bharat is axing down drug cartels with ruthless aggression” under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In a post on X platform, Shah said, “The Amritsar Zonal Unit of the NCB axed a drug diversion cartel through a 4-month-long operation across four states, seizing drugs worth Rs 547 crore and arresting 15. It is a giant stride towards building a drug-free Bharat under the vision of PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji. Congratulations to Team NCB”, a Home Ministry statement said.
In a major step towards Government’s zero tolerance approach against drugs the NCB has seized 1.36 crore psychotropic tablets from a distributor in Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. NCB has also seized 11,693 CBCS bottles and 2.9 kg of Tramadol powder from a manufacture in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. The total value of seized drugs is around Rs 547 crores.
In pursuance of the government’s vision of Nasha Mukt Bharat, Amritsar Zonal Unit of NCB has busted major networks involved in illegal diversion and distribution of pharmaceutical medicines for non-medical use across Punjab, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Delhi.
A sustained intelligence-driven operation and top to bottom and bottom to top approach in investigation of cases from December 2024 to April 2025 led to significant seizures and arrests, exposing a complex nexus between manufacturers, stockist, and front operators.
On April 20-21, 2025, the raids were conducted in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. The search in Uttarakhand resulted in seizure of 11,693 CBCS bottles and 2.9 kg of Tramadol powder from J R Pharmaceuticals. The search at the premises of key distributor, Embit Bio Medix, Himachal Pradesh, resulted in the seizure of 19,25,200 tablets and the search at the premise of Aashi pharmaceutical, Bawana, Delhi resulted in the seizure of 1.17 crore tablets of Tramadol and Alprazolam indicating massive unauthorized possession and illegal distribution of pharmaceuticals medicine. The proprietor of Embit Bio Medix was arrested earlier, while attempting to flee to Vietnam on April 18 at Indira Gandhi Airport, Delhi.
The investigation revealed that proprietor of Embit Bio Medix, Himachal Pradesh had previously operated in Delhi, where his drug license was cancelled in December 2022. Concealing this, he obtained a new license in Himachal Pradesh and also launched another firm in Delhi, registered under an associate’s Aashi Pharmaceutical.
The investigation started four months ago when a person impersonating as a medical professional was intercepted at Amritsar with 2,280 Alprazolam and 1,220 Tramadol tablets. Further investigation revealed a local distribution chain, leading to several arrests and follow-up searches that resulted in the recovery of 21,400 more Tramadol tablets and 43,000 Alprazolam tablets.
In another case in February 2025, a separate seizure of 5,000 Tramadol Hydrochloride (Trekm-100) tablets in Amritsar led investigators to a chain extending into Tarn Taran, Dehradun, and Manawala. The source trail pointed toward the illegal supply of pharmaceutical medicines by individuals operating without valid licenses, supported by dummy medical setups.
Investigations in both cases revealed involvement of same pharmaceutical manufacturing company that is J R pharmaceutical based in Haridwar, Uttarakhand which led to suspicion and through investigation conducted so far, has disclosed large-scale diversion of pharmaceuticals medicine by M/s J R Pharmaceuticals, Haridwar and others.
The follow up raids conducted in the month of February, 2025 at J R Pharmaceuticals led to seizures of 16,860 Tramadol tablets, 327 bottles of Codeine-based cough syrup, and 2.55 lakh loose Tramadol tablets (80.7 kg) hidden in drums. Further raids in the same month, based on information provided during interrogation, led to the seizure of 8,89,064 CBCS bottles held without valid documentation purportedly for diversion.
Investigation further revealed that several front stockist firms were found to be fake or non-operational and diversions of the drugs were carried out using them. One such firm, M/s Tiwari Medical Agency, Dehradun was found upon verification to be a sweet/tailor shop and proprietor of firm was found to be working as a maid, while other firms, M/s Kavati Health Care Pvt Ltd, Dehradun, and M/s Life Care Pharma, Kolkata found to be non-existent at declared address. The mastermind behind the dummy stockist M/s Tiwari Medical Agency was arrested, leading to the seizure of 1.24 lakh Alprazolam tablets from a roadside dhaba in Dehradun. The investigation revealed that he was getting the pharmaceutical drugs from other firms as well.
The NCB is actively coordinating with the GST Department, State Drug Controllers, Income Tax Authorities, CBN, and financial institutions to uncover the full extent of the drug diversion network.
Investigation conducted so far led to cumulative seizure of over 1.42 crore of Tramadol and Alprazolam tablets, 2.9 kg tramadol powder, and 9,01,084 CBCS bottles (approx. 135 tons), and arrest of 15 accused from four different states in last four months. Leads about involvement of others, have also been revealed during investigation and more seizures are expected in the next few weeks .
The seizure exemplifies the NCB’s commitment to successfully dismantle drug networks. To fight against drug trafficking, NCB seeks the support of the citizens. Any person can share information related to sale of narcotics by calling on MANAS- National Narcotics Helpline Toll Free Number-1933.
