Man sends consignment of sleeping pills on bus, held

A consignment containing 22,000 tablets of sleeping pills and other psychotropic substances was seized from a bus in Ahmedabad Sunday and its sender arrested, an Narcotics Control Bureau official said.

The value of the seized consignment is estimated to be around Rs 75 lakh in the international markets, the official said.

"We have arrested Dilip Parihar for sending around 22,000 tablets of prescription drug Alprazolam and other psychotropic substances on a bus from Ahmedabad to Ahmednagar (Maharashtra) and other cities," said NCB zonal unit director Hariom Gandhi.

Alprazolam is most commonly used for treating anxiety disorder as it induces sleep. It cannot be sold without prescription.

"Parihar was behind dispatching the consignment which was headed to various cities including Ahmednagar and Mumbai. We found that he was behind dispatching the package containing the drug," said Gandhi.

Parihar told us that he was dealing in the drugs on a commission basis, he said, adding that the accused sells around 50,000 Alprazolam tablets every month.