Opium in Ambulance: Driver pocketed Rs 35K per trip to Bareilly, say Mohali police

Gaurav Kanthwal

Mohali, July 25

Ambulance driver Harinder Sharma, who along with two others was arrested for smuggling contraband from Dappar toll plaza on Saturday evening, used to charge his accomplices Rs 35,000 per trip to Bareilly to get the consignment of opium, the Mohali police said today.

Probing whether it was meant to produce heroin

We are verifying whether the contraband was being brought to process it into heroin somewhere in Punjab. — Gursher Singh, DSP (Detective)

The Nayagaon resident earlier used to ply the ambulance near the PGI. He had bought the second-hand vehicle, with a Chandigarh registration number, for Rs 1.5 lakh a year ago, the police said. The police were verifying whether the suspect had valid documents to provide ambulance services.

“It has come to light the suspects used to get opium from Bareilly and sell it in small quantities for profit. Around 1 kg opium cost them around Rs 1 lakh. We are also verifying whether the contraband was being brought to process it into heroin somewhere in Punjab,” said Gursher Singh, DSP (Detective).

Besides Sharma, 47, the police had nabbed Rampur (UP) resident Ravi Srivastav (28) and Khudda Ali Sher resident Ankush (27) with 8 kg opium in an ambulance at the Dappar toll plaza on the Ambala-Chandigarh highway on July 23.

The police said when they signalled the van to pull over, the three pretended to be heading to a hospital, with one of them lying on the stretcher, posing as a patient.

Cops grew suspicious when they saw the oxygen cylinder and first aid kit missing from the ambulance. On examination of the vehicle, the police found opium stashed inside the pillow placed under the head of the ‘patient’.

The gang had ferried eight to 10 kg opium around 10 times using the same modus operandi, the police said.

“We are working on the forward and backward linkages to trace and source and end users and nab others involved in the trade,” the DSP said.

A case under the NDPS Act has been registered at the Lalru police station on July 23.