A post office in Gurgaon handed over contraband items worth 130 kg, possibly party drugs, to a man who came to collect them, despite an alert issued by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).
According to a report in The Indian Express, the items arrived from Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, and were meant to be delivered to a Gurgaon-based recipient.
The DRI had sent out an alert to the office of the Chief Postmaster General (CPMG) of the Haryana Circle in Ambala on January 20 seeking to hold back some items as they contained suspected contraband. The CPMG had in turn instructed the Assistant Superintendent of Posts (ASP) to hold the delivery of 13 Speed Post articles and return those to Foreign Post Office, Delhi. Despite this, the articles were delivered on January 23 through Nodal Delivery Centre in Gurugram. The CPMG then pulled up the ASP on January 25 seeking an explanation within seven days and sent him on leave for five days.
The Postmaster General of Haryana Circle, Akashdeep Chakraborty, told The Indian Express that he was "out of the loop" on the issue.
The postmen, Pramod Kumar and Bikku Kumar, allegedly handed over the items to a man who showed up at the post office to claim the parcel. It is learned that they have been summoned by the DRI to appear at its Delhi Zonal Unit on January 31.
Pramod Kumar could not be contacted for a comment but Bikku Kumar, when contacted, told IE that he was not aware of the DRI’s alert. “I did not know what was inside the packets. I told DRI officials this. A recipient named Vikas Kumar came to us with his identity and address proof to receive the articles,’ he said.
Published 04 February 2023, 05:25 IST