The Hindu : New Delhi News : Drug racket had tentacles overseas

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 23, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Drug racket had tentacles overseas

Devesh K. Pandey

Catered to `needs' of 1.5 lakh U.S. customers . A senior NCB official here said investigations were on to retrieve the entire financial transaction records of the Bansal "syndicate"

NEW DELHI: The just-uncovered racket in illegal export of pharmaceutical controlled drugs, which was allegedly being run by an Indian family through their agents and distributors, catered to the "requirement" of about 1.5 lakh customers across the United States. The accused created such a long list of customers in just two years.

The alleged kingpin of the racket, Brij Bhushan Bansal, who at present is admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Kamayani Escorts Hospital at Sikandra in Uttar Pradesh, began by couriering small consignments of prescription drugs to foreigners whom he befriended during their visit to Agra. The foreigners realised that medicines in India were cheaper and asked him to despatch them in consignments as and when required.

Dr. Bansal's business grew manifold when his son, Akhil, went to Philadelphia for further studies and gave him the idea of striking deals through over 60 pharmaceutical websites. As per the arrangement, they received the money through an Australian middleman, Stakelton, who runs an online payment disbursal website on commission basis. He would receive the credit-card payments for the deals passed on to Dr. Bansal by Akhil and then send their share through wire to bank accounts opened in Agra, Delhi, Mumbai, Singapore and also in an offshore account allegedly opened by Akhil at Channel Islands.

From the money he earned through the business, Dr. Bansal allegedly built a palatial house at Kamla Nagar in Agra and converted its first and second floor into a godown for medicines he procured from different pharmaceutical manufacturing companies on various pretexts. His daughter, Shivani Aggarwal, also started helping him in the trade after she married one Yakin Aggarwal in Jaipur. Later, Yakin and his father, Kishan, also joined in.

Through Akhil, his girlfriend, Farham Mankhuri, and his distributors -- Elizabeth and David Armstrong -- Dr. Bansal had allegedly built a wide network of customers and agents across the United States, giving him profits to the tune of Rs. 50 crores.

While Dr. Bansal and his other family members have been arrested along with 15 other accused in India, the United States and other countries, a senior official said more arrests in the case were likely soon. He informed that the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), which carried out the seizures and arrests in India, was probing the role of pharmaceutical companies which supplied controlled drugs in bulk to Dr. Bansal without crosschecking his credentials. In case, they knew that Dr. Bansal was exporting the consignments through couriers, the NCB would probe whether they tried to check from the Drug Control agencies whether he possessed a relevant license for the purpose.

Interestingly, Stakelton -- who was instrumental in the financial transactions of the Bansal "syndicate" -- is still at large. It is learnt that at the time the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the United States government began its operation on the ground to smash the entire network, Stakelton was operating from Rome. Before the local police raided his apartment, he had vanished from the spot. A senior NCB official here said investigations were on to retrieve the entire financial transaction records of the Bansal "syndicate". While he is admitted to hospital after his conditions deteriorated when the DEA and the NCB raided his house, the agencies are eagerly waiting for his disclosure statement as it would lead them to others involved in the racket.

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