Ferozepur, Oct 4: The Ferozepur administration on Friday sealed six medical stores and seized a large quantity of psychotropic drugs after four suspected drug users died in Lakho Ke Behram village earlier this week, officials said Saturday.
According to reports, raids by the Health Department continued late into the evening across multiple locations in the district.
Read more: Four youths die in 48 hours in Ferozepur village amid drug addiction crisis
Deputy Commissioner Deepshikha Sharma said the crackdown followed reports of the deaths and would continue in the coming days. “The district administration will not tolerate the illegal sale of narcotic or psychotropic drugs. More inspections are being planned,” she said.
According to officials, five pharmacy outlets — Tanu Medicos, Guru Nanak Tera Tera Medical Store, Sukhraj Medical Store, Satnam Medical Store, and Parmeet Medical Store — were sealed in Lakho Ke Behram. A significant quantity of dicylomine and olanzapine tablets was confiscated during the operation.
Later, a separate raid was carried out at Khurana Medical Agency in Ferozepur’s Multani Gate area, where officials seized 35,200 tablets of tapentadol and 4,400 capsules of pregabalin. Authorities said the firm was not authorised to stock these controlled drugs.
Sharma said she had directed officials to verify the licences of all 994 chemist shops in the district to ensure no banned or unauthorised medicines were being sold. “Over the past nine months, 207 shops have been raided, and drugs worth ₹1.32 crore confiscated. Licences of 12 chemists have already been cancelled,” she added.
Ferozepur Senior Superintendent of Police Bhupinder Singh said that in the last six months, police had seized 210 kg of heroin and ₹87.48 lakh in drug money. “The police and civil administration are jointly committed to breaking the drug network operating across the district,” he said.
In a separate development, two alleged smugglers were arrested, and 3.06 kg of heroin, ₹1.90 lakh in cash, and 26 SIM cards were recovered from them. CIA teams nabbed Kuldeep Singh of Kilche village near Kunde, recovering 1.45 kg heroin from his possession. He was booked under Sections 21, 61, and 85 of the NDPS Act at Sadar police station.
In another operation, Swaran Singh of Peer Ismail Khan village was caught near Khai Pheme Ke village with 1.61 kg heroin, cash, and SIM cards. “Acting on a tip-off, a naka was laid to intercept him,” the SSP said.
Authorities said investigations were underway to trace the supply chain and determine whether the seized drugs and the recent deaths were connected.
