Coimbatore police have arrested seven individuals, including a medical store owner, in connection with a major drug peddling racket. The group was involved in procuring and distributing painkillers and sedative tablets to youths for recreational use. During the raid, police seized 1.6kg of ganja, 350 Tapentadol tablets, 67 Nitrazepam tablets, eight mobile phones, two motorcycles, and Rs 93,000 in cash. Authorities also froze seven bank accounts linked to the suspects.
The arrested individuals include J Newton (27), K Ramesh (25), P Soundarraj (26), K Ragul (24), B Mohammed Anas (30), G Ramprasath (36), and B Sudarsan, a medical shop owner from Kerala. The bust was carried out by a special team led by enforcement bureau inspector S Senthilkumar. Investigations revealed that the group used fake prescriptions, downloading PDFs from websites and editing them to obtain sedative and painkiller pills from Sudarsan’s shop, ‘Dhaya’, located in Mannarkkad, Kerala.
Sudarsan, fully aware of the illegal activities, continued to supply the drugs to the gang. All seven individuals were produced before a judicial magistrate and remanded in custody at Coimbatore Central Prison.
Coimbatore city police commissioner V Balakrishnan emphasized that medical shops should not sell such drugs without proper prescriptions and urged pharmacists to alert the authorities if they suspect any fraudulent prescriptions.