Srinagar, Oct 2: The sheer quantity of pharmaceutical drugs recovered in a single narcotics case in Srinagar reveals the contours of the illicit trade in prescription medicines here in Kashmir.
J&K Police seized around 2.19 lakh Tapentadol tablets from an alleged drug network operating in the city earlier this week.
The widely abused pharma drug remains out of NDPS Act, raising questions over regulatory framework governing medicines.
Police on Thursday recovered approximately 2,18,500Tapentadol tablets.
In addition, 1200 Pregabalin capsules and 414 Tramadol tablets and capsules were recovered.
These pharmaceutical tablets and capsules were allegedly in the process of being supplied for illicit distribution by one network.
The tablets were packed in strips of 10 the recovery would amount to about 21,850 blister strips.
The drug seizure therefore raises a question extending beyond the quantity recovered.
It becomes a question of how hundreds of thousands of prescription tablets are entering an illicit supply chain in Kashmir, with no law to bar it?
Prof Yasir Hassan Rather, De-Addiction Specialist at GMC Srinagar and Incharge of Drug Deaddicton and Treatmnet Center SMHS Hospital said that the unusually large pharmaceutical haul puts light onto the less visible side of Kashmir’s drug problem.
“The drug crisis here is not just trafficking of heroin and other drugs. It is also how medicines manufactured for legitimate medical use find their way into an organised illicit market,” he said.
Prof Rather said hundreds of clandestine factories are manufacturing these medicines and supplying them through illegal networks.
“It is a major issue and we have seen many people with seizures and over-dose issues due to these abused medicines,” he said.
Tapentadol is a prescription opioid painkiller that also carries the risk of misuse and dependence. Tramadol and is also an opioid painkiller, while Pregabalin is generally used for neuropathic pain.
The recovery is significant, not just due to the number of tablets but also because it suggests about the scale and organisation of the pharmaceutical drug supply chain operating here in Kashmir.
Police has described the case as a “well-organised supply chain” and extended investigation to Chandigarh and Punjab.
The movement of the drugs, transport agencies, distributors and other links in the network are being probed.
This pharmaceutical haul was accompanied by 3.83 kg of codeine and around 40 grams of heroin.
The seizure also brings into focus a regulatory paradox surrounding pharmaceutical drugs that are widely associated with misuse.
While Tramadol is a psychotropic substance under the NDPS Act, Tapentadol is still not currently listed in the NDPS schedule, though it is regulated under the Drugs and Cosmetics framework.
Pregabalin is also not classified as a narcotic or psychotropic substance under the NDPS Act. In 2025 a study at National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre at AIIMS noted concerns growing misuse and availability of Tapentadol in illicit markets.
In April 2025, the Drugs Technical Advisory Board considered proposals concerning Tapentadol and Pregabalin.
The board, in light of the wide misuse, agreed with a recommendation to consider scheduling Tapentadol as a psychotropic substance under the NDPS Act. However, as of October 2026, no such notification has been issued. The Supreme Court in the recent past had also noted that Tapentadol Hydrochloride is not included in the Schedule of the NDPS Act, and therefore is not a psychotropic substance under law.
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