National Times Bureau :- A major drug smuggling attempt has been unearthed in Ludhiana after the Crime Branch seized around 56 kilograms of ganja concealed inside multiple courier parcels from the ground warehouse of a private courier company. Acting on specific information, the Crime Branch team conducted a search operation and recovered the narcotics from packages that had arrived through the courier network.
Police officials said the parcels had reportedly been sent from Odisha and were meant to be delivered to different locations in Ludhiana. Interestingly, several of the packages did not carry complete addresses, raising suspicion about the intended recipients. Authorities revealed that large quantities of narcotics had earlier also been recovered from the same courier company, following which a notice had been issued to the firm.
Despite previous action, the use of courier services for transporting drugs into Punjab appears to have continued. Officials stated that the company itself alerted the police after identifying suspicious parcels, prompting the Crime Branch team to reach the warehouse and recover the contraband.
According to investigators, nearly seven quintals of ganja have so far been seized in different cases linked to parcels handled by the same courier network. The police are now analysing the mobile numbers used for booking the consignments and tracing the transportation routes.
Investigators believe that an interstate drug trafficking network could be operating behind the smuggling racket and misusing courier services to distribute narcotics in the state. Inspector Navdeep Singh said one person had earlier been arrested in connection with the case, and the latest recovery was made based on leads obtained during the investigation. Police are examining the parcel barcodes and have not ruled out the possibility of involvement of some courier company employees in the racket.
