Ludhiana: Two men have been arrested in a case trying to smuggle drugs and intoxicating pills to Ontario, Canada, through a courier. They hid contraband in the two packages of food items. However, during the scan of the packages, the contraband was detected, leading to their arrest.
The accused had been identified as Neeraj Chahal, who claimed himself to be an Ayurvedic doctor, and Dimple Thapar, an educationist.
According to the police, they planned to send poppy, opium, and intoxicating pills to Ontario. They brought two packages to a courier company. When scanned, the courier company employees detected the contraband.
Jatinderjit Singh, owner of the courier company, informed the police on January 20. He said that two men came to their courier office on Shingar Road and handed over the drug consignment to be shipped to Canada.
They submitted the identity proof of a person named Mani Kumar from Uppal village. He further said that when the packages were scanned, they saw something bundled in clothes and, on opening, found the contraband inside it.
The courier company employees raised the issue and informed the police.
On informing, an investigation was initiated, and an FIR was lodged under sections 15, 18, 22, 61, and 85 of the NDPS Act against them. Police seized over 10 kg of poppy husk, 750 g of opium, and 4,600 intoxicating pills from the two packages. They also arrested the two accused, Neeraj and Dimple.
During interrogation, police learned that Neeraj often used to fly abroad. He was supposed to collect the couriers himself in Ontario, Canada.
The accused have been sent on two days of police custody remand by the local court.
This is not the first case of drug smuggling. On January 17th, a resident from Firozpur was booked for smuggling drugs to Canada, and on November 9th, 2023, a resident from Gill village tried to smuggle opium to Canada hidden in a sweet delicacy, which was detected during scanning.
(Input From Various Media Sources)
(Rehash/Shelja Chauhan)
