Pharmacist arrested for illegal drug racket

New Delhi: Police have arrested a 31-year-old pharmacist and busted an alleged illegal drug racket in west Delhi on Friday. The accused allegedly sold drugs to addicts in the locality under the cover of a chemist shop.He was identified as Manoj Kumar, a resident of Nihal Vihar, was allegedly selling banned pharmaceutical drugs without prescription from his shop, located in Nilothi’s Chander Vihar.Acting on a tip-off police coordinated with drugs department to carry out a joint raid at the premises.During the operation, Kumar was apprehended from the shop and a large quantity of contraband medicines was seized . Police said the drugs were concealed inside a covered transparent plastic box within the premises.The seizure included 50 bottles of codeine syrup classified as commercial quantity, 499 capsules and 400 tablets of tramadol also in commercial quantity, and 240 capsules of alprazolam, considered an intermediate quantity under the law.“The batch numbers and expiry dates on the medicines were deliberately erased or defaced, raising suspicion about their source and legality,” DCP (outer) Vikram Singh said.A case has been registered under sections 21(c), 22(b) and 22(c) of the NDPS Act, along with provisions of Drugs and Cosmetics Act, at Nihal Vihar police station.