Thanjavur drug bust: Four arrested with 6,000 opioid tablets sold online
Thanjavur: The District Anti-Narcotic Task Force (ANTF) arrested four persons on Friday on charges of possessing and selling Tapentadol tablets, an opioid painkiller with high abuse potential. Acting on intelligence, the team recovered around 6,000 tablets and a car from the accused, police said.
The arrested were identified as T. Prakash alias Madu Prakash, 26, H. Mohamed Abbas, 25, M. Sanjay Sampath, 23, and C. Subash, 24, all residents of Thanjavur. They were taken into custody during a coordinated operation on Friday, according to police sources.
The latest crackdown follows an earlier seizure on August 30, when ANTF personnel arrested two individuals, Satishkumar and Ranjithkumar, and recovered 1,000 Tapentadol tablets from them. A case was registered at the Maruvur police station, and the two were remanded in judicial custody shortly afterwards.
During the subsequent investigation, police traced the suspected supply network to Sai Trading Company in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Based on that lead, the ANTF zeroed in on the four men and carried out simultaneous raids on Thursday and Friday. Apart from the tablets, investigators seized a car allegedly used in the transaction.
Police said Mohamed Abbas is alleged to have received a parcel containing the tablets from Nagpur through an online order. He is accused of distributing and selling them in association with the other three accused. Investigating officers are looking into chat records, payment trails and delivery details to expose the larger network behind the interstate smuggling.
Tapentadol is a synthetic opioid analgesic prescribed for moderate to severe pain. It acts on the central nervous system and, when misused, can cause addiction, respiratory depression and other severe side effects. In many states, including Tamil Nadu, such drugs are sold under tight prescription rules, and their unauthorised possession or distribution is a punishable offence under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The anti-narcotic agency has repeatedly warned that online orders are increasingly misused to procure these substances for recreational purposes.
Senior officials of the Thanjavur district police have lauded the ANTF team for the arrest and seizure, saying the operation was part of a sustained campaign against drug trafficking in the Cauvery delta region. They added that the accused are being interrogated to identify the local consumer network and any other suppliers in Tamil Nadu.
Further investigation is under way, and the police have said they will seek the custody of the four men for detailed questioning. Due process is being followed in accordance with the law, and the presumption of innocence remains until proven otherwise.
