Patna: In a renewed crackdown on the illegal drug trade, Patna Police have recovered 900 narcotic needles in fresh raids conducted across the Gardanibagh and Kankarbagh areas — the second such recovery within a week. Officers also seized Rs 36,000 in cash and a mobile phone from the suspects.
Patna Central SP Diksha said police acted on a tip-off about a narcotic injection racket operating from a house opposite SS Hospital in Dharichak, Anisabad. “When our team raided the house, we found a large number of narcotic needles and arrested a man identified as Sagar Kumar,” she said. Kumar was reportedly found in possession of 400 needles.
Based on his questioning, police raided a nearby slum in Kankarbagh and recovered another 500 narcotic needles, Rs 36,000 in cash, and 10 mobile phones. The suspect revealed that a man named Shatrughan Rajak and others were part of the illegal trade.
Authorities have since begun tracing a wider network linked to the recovered mobile phones, which are believed to contain evidence of further connections.
Earlier, 100 narcotic needles had been seized from a man named Ganesh in the same locality. During questioning, he claimed that a supplier named Brajesh from Patna City provided him with narcotic needles and other banned substances. A follow-up raid at Brajesh’s hideout led to the recovery of 700 needles and Rs 4.38 lakh in cash.
Police said Brajesh named another key figure, Rahul, a native of Nalanda’s Ongari area and currently residing in PC Colony. Acting on this information, officers located two warehouses belonging to Rahul — one in PC Colony and another in Bajrangpuri — from where 15,000 needles and 76,000 banned narcotics were seized.
In total, seven people have been arrested in connection with the case, and further investigations are under way to identify the full extent of the distribution network.
Officials added that all recovered needles are classified as narcotic and should only be available with a medical prescription. However, widespread black marketing and misuse as recreational drugs have raised concerns about the growing underground trade in Patna.
