NCB busts Gurgaon-based online pharmacy for shipping illegal drugs

The Narcotics Control Bureau has recovered over 22,000 tablets from a Gurgaon-based online pharmacy.

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NEW DELHI: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has busted an illegal Gurgaon-based online pharmacy that was allegedly shipping psychotropic medicinal tablets to the US and some European countries under the garb of 'herbal medicine'.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has recovered over 22,000 such tablets, officials said on Saturday.

The Delhi zonal unit of the NCB said it detained Amit Kumar in this connection, and added that two of his companies -- Zatak Softech and Farma Glow -- were under the scanner for allegedly running the illicit drugs trafficking racket.

It said agency sleuths had intercepted 44 packets of such psychotropic substances bound for the US, the UK and Hungary at the Foreign Post Office here on August 2. The packets bore authentication stamps of various regulatory departments and the consignment was declared and concealed as "herbal medicines", the NCB added.

The NCB subsequently raided various premises linked to the firms and their owner in Gurgaon and recovered a total of 22,410 tablets of psychotropic medicines like Diazapam, Zolpidam, Clonozapam, Alprazolam, Nitrezapam, Tramadol and others, officials said.

A total of 79 fake seals of various government agencies like the Postal Department, Customs, insurance companies, banks, hospitals and phrama companies were also seized during the raids, a senior NCB official said, adding that the companies of Kumar were illegal online pharmacies actively trafficking drugs from India.

Zatak Softech had allegedly floated 57 websites. The company had tie-ups with certain US firms under the pretext of creating websites but were actually dealing in illegal drugs over the internet, he said.

The NCB has frozen 17 bank accounts of the firms floated by Kumar and identified assets worth Rs 22 crore that could be attached under the anti-narcotics law, the official said.

Further probe is on, he added.