New Delhi, August 13
Unearthing a major smuggling racket of prescription drugs to the Middle-East, the Narcotics Control Bureau today arrested two owners of medicine manufacturing units based in Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.
It also seized a consignment of 45,000 vials of buprenorphine injections, apparently destined for Dubai, worth Rs 20 lakh in the international market.
The consignment had arrived at the New Delhi railway station by parcel service on August 10 from Remedies and Chemicals, a company in Solan in Himachal Pradesh, NCB sources said.
It was seized when no one came to claim the injections. Investigations revealed that the company, which had been named as the consignee, was a fictitious firm.
The drug, a painkiller, has properties to cause hallucination and is very popular in the Middle-East, Central Asia and Pakistan. While
it can be manufactured under licence in India, its transport and distribution is governed by the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
The NCB yesterday raided the manufacturing unit in Solan and detained its owner Rajinder Singh.
Later, the NCB also called in for questioning Naresh Mittal, owner of another firm Vindrugs based in Jind (Haryana), who had allegedly placed the order to manufacture the drugs.
The duo was formally arrested today after they admitted their involvement in the racket. A city court remanded them in 14 days’ judicial custody.
Further investigations were on to determine whether others were involved in the racket, the sources said.
— PTI
