A Hyderabad-based businessman was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau on Sunday for allegedly operating an internet pharmacy that diverts and supplies psychotropic medicines for recreational use to the U.S. and other countries.
On Thursday, the NCB officials raided the accused, Ashish Jain’s residence and office at Himayatnagar and Domalguda respectively and took him and two of his family members into custody. They seized ₹3.71 crore in cash from Jain.
NCB’s Deputy Director-General (operations) Sanjay Kumar Singh said that a specific input was received regarding the involvement of Indian nationals in operating an internet pharmacy that diverts and supplies psychotropic medicines for recreational use to the U.S. and other countries.
Based on the information, the house and office premises of the kingpin of the internet pharmacy group were searched by the Hyderabad Sub Zone of NCB.
“It was revealed that the accused was running an internet pharmacy in the name of JR Infinity Pvt. Ltd. located at Domalguda. During the search of the house of the prime accused, ₹3.71 Crore in cash which was the proceeds of drug trafficking was seized,” he said.
Further, several laptops, mobile phones and other electronic gadgets that were used to operate the illegal internet pharmacy were also seized. Based on the material evidence and cash seized, a case has been registered by NCB Hyderabad, and the kingpin was arrested.
Further investigation has revealed that the employees of JR Infinity used to contact customers in the U.S. and other countries over email and VoIP calls and offer various pharma drugs including those covered under NDPS Act for recreational use to them. “Once customers agreed upon the product and price, the employees collected the details of the customers like name, shipping address, email id etc. of the customer and shared the payment links with them,” Mr. Singh said.
Based on the preference of the customer, multiple payment methods were offered by JR Infinity like account transfer, credit card, Paypal, Bitcoins etc. On confirmation of the payment by the customer, the company used to illicitly divert and dispatch pharma drugs to the customers in the U.S. and other countries, the officer explained.
“Investigation so far has revealed that the prime suspect is an important player in an international pharma drug trafficking network. In the last two years, he has carried out more than one thousand illicit diversions and shipments of drugs from India to the U.S. and within the U.S.,” he said.
Psychotropic tablets that were trafficked by the accused to his international customers are Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, Alprazolam, Diazepam, Lorazepam, Clonazepam, Zolpidem, Tramadol etc.
Investigation into digital evidence is underway and more evidence of operations including the source of the drugs and accomplices of the prime accused in India and abroad are expected during investigation.
