Madurai, Nov 6:
Tamil Nadu Police have busted an inter-state pharmaceutical drug trafficking racket and arrested two key operatives from Ambala in Haryana who allegedly supplied Tapentadol painkiller tablets via postal and courier consignments across 19 states and union territories, including Tamil Nadu.
The arrested individuals were identified as Mahender Singh Bisht (48), who coordinated despatches from a computer spare parts shop in Ambala Cantonment, and Sunil Kumar (43), a BSc Chemistry graduate who ran a competitive exam coaching institute in Jammu and facilitated tablet supplies to Tamil Nadu. The operation, codenamed ‘Operation Deep Source’, was initiated in July 2026 by South Zone Inspector General of Police Vijayendra Bidari following suspicious courier movements. Subsequent parcel interceptions in Theni, Dindigul, and Madurai traced back to Ambala.
Investigators uncovered that the syndicate booked 588 suspicious parcels over the past year using fictitious sender aliases such as Aatish Bhardwaj, Azeez Bharadwaj, and Ashish Bharadwaj, with 11 consignments addressed to Tamil Nadu. So far, police have registered seven cases, seized 4,400 Tapentadol tablets, and arrested 18 individuals. The duo was brought to Tamil Nadu on a transit warrant and remanded in judicial custody by the Judicial Magistrate Court in Vadipatti.