Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has seized 2.08 lakh tramadol tablets worth an estimated Rs 8.3 crore and arrested a medical stockist for his alleged involvement in an interstate psychotropic drug network. Cops claimed the accused had sourced more than 62.5 lakh tablets in a month and supplied them to buyers in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.The operation began after the ATS received intelligence that Paresh Jain, 35, who lives in Valsad and is originally from Sadri in Rajasthan, was trafficking tramadol tablets.Through technical surveillance, the cops found that a consignment had been dispatched from Ankleshwar to Pali, Rajasthan, by private bus. It was allegedly disguised as a consignment of other medicines under a tax invoice issued in the name of New Mahavir Medical.Acting on the tip-off, ATS personnel, assisted by the city crime branch and Special Operations Group, intercepted the bus near Namaste Circle in Shahibaug shortly after midnight on Wednesday.During the search, cops recovered six cartons containing 416 smaller boxes of Scovidol-100 (tramadol hydrochloride 100mg) tablets. The consignment comprised 4,160 strips containing 2,08,000 tablets, which were seized under the NDPS Act.As Jain had fled to Rajasthan, ATS teams tracked him down and arrested him in Udaipur on Thursday.Police said that Jain had procured 62.5 lakh tramadol tablets in 25 batches after obtaining a medical stockist licence in May 2026, and had mainly supplied them in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. He had earlier been arrested in NDPS cases in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, and Thane, Maharashtra, involving codeine cough syrup.Cops are also probing Jain’s suspected links to the seizure of 2.38kg of mephedrone in Vapi last month to determine whether the alleged network extended beyond tramadol trafficking. Four persons had been arrested in that case.
