Daijiworld Media Network - Solan
Solan, Oct 4: A Special NDPS court in Himachal Pradesh’s Solan district has sentenced a drug trafficker who procured narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances through international postal parcels to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said on Sunday.
Pankaj Sharma, a resident of Solan, was arrested by the NCB Chandigarh Zonal Unit, which secured his conviction in Crime No. 16/2023 dated July 4, 2023, an official statement said.
Special Judge-II, Solan, sentenced Sharma on Saturday after convicting him under Section 22(c) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, for possessing a commercial quantity of MDMA, the statement said.
On July 4, 2023, the NCB Chandigarh received specific intelligence about an international postal parcel originating from the United Kingdom and suspected to contain narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances.
After obtaining the required authorisation for controlled delivery under Section 50A of the NDPS Act, the NCB team recovered the original contents of the parcel, comprising 4.7 grams of cocaine, and subsequently conducted a controlled delivery operation at the Head Post Office in Solan, it said.
Sharma took delivery of the parcel and was apprehended on the spot.
A second parcel originating from France, which Sharma collected at the same time, was searched and 56.2 grams of MDMA was recovered and seized. The quantity was more than five times the notified commercial quantity of 10 grams for MDMA under the NDPS Act, the NCB said.
The operation also led to the identification of a third parcel originating from Germany and intended for delivery to Sharma. A further 4.4 grams of cocaine was recovered from the parcel, it said.
The investigation revealed that Sharma had been procuring drugs from multiple European countries through international postal channels.
The NCB filed a complaint under the relevant provisions of the NDPS Act before the Special Judge, Solan, on December 19, 2023.