Indo-US initiative unearths another online drug racket

A year ago, the NCB, Kolkata, had cracked the Sanjay Kedia case, exposing a thriving multi-million dollar online racket of procuring psychotropic drugs from India and distributing them in the US. The NCB estimated that the monthly online transaction of Kedia’s company was a massive US $ 500,000.

Earlier, in 2005, the DEA had busted an even bigger e-trafficking ring involving an NRI, Akhil Bansal. The DEA picked up Akhil from his apartment in Philadelphia, US, while NCB officials arrested his father, Brij Bhushan Bansal, unearthing an online racket of prescription drugs worth US $ 20 million.

Last week, NCB sleuths swooped down on the branch office of a New York-based company in Peelamedupudur in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu’s textile hub, and took into custody the manager, D Ramakrishnan.

Simultaneously, in New York, the DEA arrested the company’s president, T Seethapathy, a 70-year-old native of Coimbatore, running the racket for about two years through the website abcmedics.com Ramakrishnan traded in drugs that come under Schedule I of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, prohibited from export.

The company did not have the necessary licence either to export the drugs, having registered with the RBI for trading in consumer items alone.

The three drugs, Alprazolam, Atrivan and Nitrosun, categorised as anxiolytic drugs, are prescribed for mentally stressed patients to reduce anxiety. While a strip of 10 0.2mg Alprazolam tablets costs a mere Rs 7.50 in India, in the US, the over-the-counter cost is an exorbitant US $ 125 for 60 tablets. Also, taken in combination with other sedatives, the drugs can be potent party stimulants.

But for the NCB, the unearthing of the Peelamedupudur racket has thrown up larger concerns.

“It is virtually impossible to track down every small consignment of prescribed drugs that leaves the country every day by normal airmail,” points out NCB Director (South Zone) S Davidson Devasirvatham.

For India, the loss in terms of export duties and commercial taxes is huge as these drugs in the US cost much more.

According to an NCB estimate, Ramakrishnan has sent drugs worth Rs 2 crore, making a neat 200 to 300 per cent profit.

In fact, six months ago, Customs officials in Chennai airport had seized several packages being sent by Ramakrishnan to an address in the US. “Each packet had only about 10 to 20 tablets. But what raised suspicion was that the addressee was the same for all the 120-odd packages. We booked a case against him under the Customs Act,” said Customs Commissioner C Rajan.

Officials were only vaguely aware of a violation based on the “huge quantity” of the drug consignments. So, they went slow on the investigation. At the same time, Customs sleuths also seized two large consignments of Viagra being sent to the US by courier.

“It is humanly not possible to scan every personal mail or courier package leaving by air. This is what the smugglers exploit,” points out Rajan. Back in Coimbatore, the state drug controllers plead helplessness.

With over 45,000 pharmacies operating in the district and with just two drug inspectors to monitor operations both in Coimbatore and neighbouring Nilgiris, the task is indeed massive.

Menace of drug trade

• The three drugs, Alprazolam, Atrivan and Nitrosun, categorised as anxiolytic drugs, are prescribed for mentally stressed patients to reduce anxiety

• A strip of 10 0.2mg Alprazolam tablets costs a mere Rs 7.50 in India, in the US, the over-the-counter cost is an exorbitant $US 125 for 60 tablets

• Taken in combination with other sedatives, the drugs can be potent party stimulants

• The unearthing of the Peelamedupudur racket has thrown up larger concerns. The company did not have the necessary licence either to export the drugs, having registered with the RBI for trading in consumer items alone

• According to the Narcotics Control Bureau estimate, drugs worth Rs 2 crore has been sent, making a neat 200 to 300 per cent profit