The Delhi Crime Branch has dismantled a major inter-State network supplying banned Tramadol tablets. The police have arrested five men who ran a well-organised illegal pharmaceutical pipeline hidden behind ordinary jobs and family lives, according to the police officials.
A total of 54,000 Tramadol Hydrochloride tablets worth over Rs 32 lakh were seized in the operation. DCP Crime Vikram Singh said the seizure was a warning to networks using legal businesses as a cover for the drug trade. “This racket was moving prohibited medicines in bulk under the cover of routine work. The team acted on precise inputs and stopped a major consignment before it entered the market,” he said.
The Crime Branch team moved after receiving specific intelligence in early October. On October 7, officers laid a trap near Mehak Apartment in Madanpur Khadar Extension in Southeast Delhi. Around 6.30 pm, they intercepted a man walking with a large carton bag near Noorani Masjid. Police identified him as 50-year-old Mohd Abid, a resident of the same area.
A search was carried out under the NDPS Act. Inside the carton were 54,000 tablets of Treken 100, a Tramadol Hydrochloride formulation that is banned without special authorisation. Police registered an FIR the next day and arrested Abid.
What surfaced over the next few days was a supply chain that looked simple from the outside but had deep links inside the illegal pharma trade. During questioning, Abid named his relative and son-in-law, Javed Khan, a 45-year-old customs house agent. Police said Javed used his knowledge of logistics and cross-border movement of goods to arrange the flow of banned tablets through informal channels. He was arrested soon after.
Investigators then picked up three more men who were allegedly handling warehousing and distribution. Sunil Kumar, a 40-year-old warehouse operator from Samalka, provided space. Vishnu Dutt Sharma, a 62-year-old exporter from Dwarka, handled the movement of parcels. The fifth accused, 38-year-old Vikas Singh, ran a small courier company and helped the group move consignments within the city.
Officers said the group was not driven by addiction or personal use. They were working for profit. Each of them had a stable job, a family and a routine life. Yet all agreed to take the risk because the return on a single consignment was high. Police said early investigation suggests links to suppliers outside India, and the network may have been operating for several months.
Tramadol is often misused as a recreational drug. It is also cheap, easy to transport and widely consumed in the illegal market. Police said large batches are pushed into cities through courier channels and local godowns, making it hard to detect unless precise intelligence is available.
The Crime Branch said the seizure is one of the largest Tramadol hauls this year in the Capital. Officers are now tracking financial records, phone data and shipment logs connected to the group.
More arrests are likely. “The aim is to break the entire chain,” an officer said. “These tablets finally reach young people who do not know what they are consuming. Stopping the source is the only way.” The further investigation is underway.