The Hindu : New Delhi News : Illegal internet pharmacy smashed; four arrested

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Wednesday, May 07, 2008
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New Delhi

Illegal internet pharmacy smashed; four arrested

Staff Reporter

It had allegedly exported drugs worth over Rs.60 crore

The suspects had been receiving procurement orders, mostly from the US
The NCB sleuths laid a trap at a post office and arrested an alleged courier Rajesh Sharma

NEW DELHI: The Narcotics Control Bureau has smashed an international syndicate of illegal online trading in regulated pharmaceutical drugs with the arrest of four persons, including a postal agent, on Tuesday.

The gang that ran a business process outsourcing firm as a front for the illegal activity had allegedly exported drugs worth over Rs.60 crore in the past six years.

The Delhi zonal unit of NCB received information recently about a South Delhi-based software development BPO named “E-Destination” under which an illegal online pharmaceutical drugs trading was allegedly being done.

The suspects had been receiving procurement orders, mostly from the US, for regulated drugs through two websites hosted by them. The consignments of drugs were being smuggled out through post.

Acting on a tip-off that a huge quantity of scheduled drugs concealed in about 100 packets was being sent through post on Tuesday, the NCB sleuths laid a trap at the post office on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg and arrested an alleged courier, Rajesh Sharma, along with a postal agent, Nafe Singh. During interrogation, Rajesh allegedly disclosed that he worked for Amit Kohli and his accomplice Diwakar Gupta. The parcels containing the drugs were allegedly seized from the accused.

At the instance of Rajesh, the NCB sleuths mounted a raid at a godown in Mandawali and seized 70,000 more tablets. In a simultaneous raid, Amit and Diwakar were also arrested.

During interrogation, Amit allegedly disclosed that he was engaged in illegal export of regulated sedative and antiepileptic drugs like hydrocodone, phenobarbitone and clonazepam.

Amit, who is suspected to have earlier worked for a gang into illegal Internet pharmacy business, had allegedly hosted two websites through which he would receive orders for the drugs. He would receive advance payments through credit cards via payment gateways in Nepal and Thailand, also through the hawala channel, after which he would procure the drugs from the local market and parcel them out to his clients, the officials said.

Amit had roped in postal agent Nafe Singh to help him bypass screening of the packets containing drugs that is usually conducted by anti-narcotics enforcement agencies at the post office. His accomplice Diwakar is from the Information Technology field, the officials said.

NCB Zonal Director (Delhi) Sandeep Mittal said the agency was closely monitoring all websites indulging in illicit Internet pharmacy. “Those found involved would be tracked down and booked,” he added.

In March, the NCB had smashed a similar racket with the arrest of two persons. A huge quantity of scheduled drugs destined for the US was seized during the operation. In that case also, the racket was allegedly being run in the guise of a Noida-based BPO firm.

An alumnus of IIT Delhi, Sanjay Kedia, who headed a software development and BPO firm, was arrested in Kolkata by the NCB last year on similar charges.

The accused supplied the scheduled drugs to the US.

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