Pharmacist uses 108 ambulance to buy drugs, lands in jail

Ludhiana: A pharmacist of Punjab government’s ‘108 Ambulance’ service was allegedly caught with drugs and intoxicating pills on Sunday afternoon by the sarpanch of Talwandi village, which is infamous for drug supply.

It is alleged that the pharmacist had come to the village from Phillaur in the ambulance on pretext of picking up a patient, but had actually come to buy the strip of a banned pharmaceutical drug.

The accused has been identified as Amritpal Singh of Bahini Sahib village in Tarn Taran. Though police did not find anything incriminating from ambulance driver Sukhraj Singh of Gurdaspur, they have taken him into custody to ascertain why did he drive the ambulance to Ludhiana from Phillaur.

The duo has been detained at Salem Tabri police station, after sarpanch Manjit Singh informed the cops.

Manjit said they had seen the ambulance coming to the village often for over a year. “We found it suspicious as another ambulance usually comes to pick up patients at the village. This is why we stopped the ambulance and found the pharmacist consuming drugs,” he said.

Ludhiana additional deputy commissioner of police Gurpreet Singh Sikand said their preliminary enquiry had revealed that the pharmacist used to procure drugs form a resident of Talwandi. “He used to come to the village in the ambulance. We will check if the accused has used the ambulance for smuggling or not,” he said.

Sikand added that their teams were raiding the village to nab the drug supplier. “An FIR is being lodged against the pharmacist,” he said.