Hyderabad: NCB busts drug trafficking ring

Hyderabad: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Sunday arrested a Hyderabad-based businessman for allegedly operating an internet pharmacy that diverts and supplies psychotropic medicines for recreational use to America and other countries.

NCB sleuths raided the accused Ashish Jain's residence and office at Himayatnagar and Domalguda in the city and took him and two of his family members into custody. The accused were reportedly trafficking psychotropic tablets like Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, Alprazolam, Diazepam, Lorazepam, Clonazepam, Zolpidem, Tramadol, etc.

NCB Deputy Director-General (Operations) Sanjay Kumar Singh said that they had received a specific input regarding the involvement of Indian nationals in operating an internet pharmacy that diverts and supplies psychotropic medicines for recreational use to the US and other foreign countries. Based on the information, the house and office of the kingpin of the internet pharmacy group were searched by the Hyderabad Sub Zone of the 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, Rs 3.71 crore in cash, said to be the proceeds of drug trafficking, was seized," the official said. 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 and the kingpin was arrested. Further investigation has revealed that the employees of the JR Infinity used to contact customers in America and other countries over email and VoIP calls and offer various pharma drugs, including those covered under the NDPS Act, for recreational use to them. "Once customers agreed upon the product and price, the employees collect the details of the customers -- like name, shipping address, email ID, etc -- and share the payment links with them," Singh said.

Based on the preference of the customer, multiple payment methods were offered by the 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 US and other countries, the officer explained. "Investigation so far has revealed that in the last two years, the prime suspect had carried out more than one thousand illicit diversions and shipments of drugs from India to the US and within the US," the official said.