Updated:

Capital haul of party drugs worries police, medicos

New Delhi, Aug 22, 2006
IANS

Sunday’s large haul of US-bound Ephedrine from the Capital has left law enforcing agencies as well as the medical fraternity worried as they say that this drug is easily available in the open market here.

“This is a banned drug and should not be available in the open market but it is reported that it is being sold in some markets in the capital,” said A Shankar Rao, Director of the Narcotics Control Bureau, Delhi.

Delhi Police had recovered over 100kg of US-bound ephedrine worth Rs1bn ($21.5m) and arrested four people, including Gurdish Singh Toor, a non-resident Indian from Canada. Ephedrine is a major component in preparing banned drugs like Ecstasy and Ice that are consumed in parties worldwide. Rao said that ephedrine is not only classified as a “dangerous drug” in India but its production and sales are restricted and controlled by government agencies.

“Ephedrine is manufactured only by private laboratories which are monitored by the government agencies. We believe some private laboratories are illegally selling these drugs in the open market at a higher price,” said Rao.

Delhi Medical Association (DMA) President K K Kapoor said: “We are worried about the recovery of these drugs by police because they are not only available in the open market but are also found in some of the commonly used drugs. “Ephedrine is commonly found in medicines for diabetes, bronchitis, cold, weight reduction and those that help in gaining muscles,” he said.

“We are worried because this drug is now being used for unethical and illegal purposes by some private laboratories,” said Kapoor.

Kapoor added that earlier the drug was sold only on prescription.

“Since it is now available in the open market, we suspect more people, especially youngsters, could get affected by it,” said Kapoor.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police yesterday took Toor, the kingpin of the drug racket in India, to Mumbai to get more information about his network and those officials who had helped him send consignments out of the country. “He has confessed that he owns two more stock houses in Mumbai where he has hidden some more consignment that were to be sent to the US and Canada,” said R S Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Police.

“Toor had sent over a dozen shipments totalling 500kg of ephedrine to these countries and we suspect that some of the government officials could also be involved in the racket. Toor has been in India for two years,” the official added.

“The regulated price of ephedrine is around Rs1,200 for one kilogram but in the international market the drug can fetch up to a few million dollars,” said Yadav.

NRI, Gurdish Singh Toor nabbed for smuggling 100 kilograms of ephedrine on Delhi Airport

Police haul party drugs in Delhi, NRI among 4 held

New Delhi, August 20, 2006
IANS

In one of the biggest narcotics hauls in the Capital, Delhi Police on Sunday recovered over 100 kilograms of US-bound ephedrine worth Rs 1 billion and arrested four people, including a NRI from Canada.

Two of the arrested drug smugglers were nabbed from the Indira Gandhi International Airport while the other two were nabbed from Ludhiana (Punjab) and Indore (Madhya Pradesh), police said.

"Ephedrine is a major component in preparing banned drugs like Ecstasy and Ice that are consumed in parties worldwide. These drugs are banned not only in the US and Canada but also in India," Deputy Commissioner of Police Ravindra Yadav said.

"The recovery is one of the biggest in the country. It is for the first time that such a big haul of party drugs was recovered," added Yadav.

Yadav said Gurdish Singh Toor, a 29-year-old NRI, had come to India from Canada two years back and he has been sending these drugs to the US and Canada through air and water routes for the same period.

"He was contacted by Canadian and Chinese drug cartels and he was supplying this drug to them," said Yadav.

The official said that Toor, after dropping out of school, started farming marijuana and later joined hands with drug cartels.

"We were aware that the demand for party drugs has increased in Delhi and drugs were also being smuggled out of India from the capital," Yadav said.

He added that the recovered stock of ephedrine was neatly packed in small pouches that were placed in cavities in framed paintings.

"The drug was being smuggled out of the country through courier. The consignment was supposed to be delivered to one Robin in San Diego, California," said

"We came to know of three months ago and then we started to trace the suppliers," said Yadav adding that the gang was operating in India for two years.

Police said that Toor was actively being helped by Amit Agarwal, a unani and ayurvedic expert who had helped him establish contact with private laboratories in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.

Police said Toor was also helped by Kailash Chand Jindal, owner of a pharmaceutical company in Jharkhand.

Yadav further said that Paramjeet Singh, director of an export and import firm, Golden Shields Private Limited, in Ludhiana was the fourth partner of Toor in India to smuggle drugs.

"Raids are also being carried out in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand and more arrests can be made," said Yadav.

In the past 19 months, over 180 foreign nationals, a large number of them Nigerians, have been arrested in the capital on charges of possession and peddling in narcotics.