Express News Service
CHANDIGARH: In the latest fad among drug smugglers, opium is being smuggled from Punjab to the USA and Canada via courier. They hide the drugs in clothes — stitching it to jeans, coats, traditional wear, lenghas — and in eatables such as ladoos and chyawanprash which are sent to these countries.
In the last couple of months, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has registered six cases in which the contraband was being smuggled through these methods via courier. The Punjab Police has registered similar cases.
Sources said that the NCB has in the past few months detected a new trend in the smuggling of drugs from the state, those smugglers who are either unemployed and are in some business are sending opium in small quantities to the USA and Canada by using innovative methods as the contraband is stitched in clothes, in sleeves of men’s coats, in jeans around the pockets, in traditional dress…lenghas by using carbon paper and insoles of the shoes.
Apart from that, the opium is sent in ladoos, stuffed inside them. While in another interesting case, the Haryana Police said it was inside a one kg box of chyawanprash on the lower bottom in a packet.
A senior official on condition of anonymity said, “The opium is bought from Jharkhand by the smugglers at nominal rates and then smuggled to Punjab, mainly Ludhiana, and sold at around Rs 3 lakh a kg. It is then put in small quantities, packed and sent abroad mainly to USA and Canada. In one case, we found only 2 kgs, 80 grams, in another case, we found 512 grams. They play smart and try to make sure the contraband is not detected, as three persons were arrested in six cases registered by the NCB.’’
“The addresses of the courier consignment in the US and Canada seem to be correct but have to be verified by the law enforcement authorities there, but in many cases, the addresses of the persons sending these couriers from here (India) are fake,’’ he added.
Sources said that NCB caught six such cases and it tipped off Punjab Police about four similar cases. In March this year, Ludhiana Police registered a case against a sender of a courier Narinder Singh of Ibrahimpur village in Hoshiarpur on the complaint of the courier company official.
While last month Haryana police booked a Punjab resident for allegedly trying to send 422 and 420 grams of opium to a person in USA by hiding it in two packets inside the boxes of Chyawanprash that he had booked via courier.
CHANDIGARH: In the latest fad among drug smugglers, opium is being smuggled from Punjab to the USA and Canada via courier. They hide the drugs in clothes — stitching it to jeans, coats, traditional wear, lenghas — and in eatables such as ladoos and chyawanprash which are sent to these countries.
In the last couple of months, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has registered six cases in which the contraband was being smuggled through these methods via courier. The Punjab Police has registered similar cases.
Sources said that the NCB has in the past few months detected a new trend in the smuggling of drugs from the state, those smugglers who are either unemployed and are in some business are sending opium in small quantities to the USA and Canada by using innovative methods as the contraband is stitched in clothes, in sleeves of men’s coats, in jeans around the pockets, in traditional dress…lenghas by using carbon paper and insoles of the shoes.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
Apart from that, the opium is sent in ladoos, stuffed inside them. While in another interesting case, the Haryana Police said it was inside a one kg box of chyawanprash on the lower bottom in a packet.
A senior official on condition of anonymity said, “The opium is bought from Jharkhand by the smugglers at nominal rates and then smuggled to Punjab, mainly Ludhiana, and sold at around Rs 3 lakh a kg. It is then put in small quantities, packed and sent abroad mainly to USA and Canada. In one case, we found only 2 kgs, 80 grams, in another case, we found 512 grams. They play smart and try to make sure the contraband is not detected, as three persons were arrested in six cases registered by the NCB.’’
“The addresses of the courier consignment in the US and Canada seem to be correct but have to be verified by the law enforcement authorities there, but in many cases, the addresses of the persons sending these couriers from here (India) are fake,’’ he added.
Sources said that NCB caught six such cases and it tipped off Punjab Police about four similar cases. In March this year, Ludhiana Police registered a case against a sender of a courier Narinder Singh of Ibrahimpur village in Hoshiarpur on the complaint of the courier company official.
While last month Haryana police booked a Punjab resident for allegedly trying to send 422 and 420 grams of opium to a person in USA by hiding it in two packets inside the boxes of Chyawanprash that he had booked via courier.
