3.5 lakh tablets worth ₹10cr seized at foreign post office
NEWDELHI: Over 3.5 lakh tablets of drugs, estimated to be worth over ₹10 crore, which were being sent as parcels to the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, were recovered at the foreign post office, officials from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) said.
DRI additional director Rajkumar Digvijay said the seized medicines include drugs like Alprazolam, Amphetamine, Diazepam, Lorazepam, Nitrazepam, Zolpidem, Oxycodone, Tramadol, etc.
These controlled drugs are not sold over the counter without prescriptions as they are frequently abused as narcotics.
“The drugs were mostly in tablets or capsule form. They were packed into small parcels and declared as ‘herbal and health products’. The detailed examination of each parcel was conducted round-the-clock from May 2 to May 5 last week. The goods were at the various stages of clearances and were destined to numer- ous overseas buyers located in US, UK, Canada and Australia,” Digvijay said.
The officer said more than 3.5 lakhs tablets have been seized. “These drugs have a street value of more than ₹10 crore at their destinations,” Digvijay said.
DRI officials said they suspect the bust was part of a smuggling racket being carried out on the dark-net. The Foreign Post Office is prone to smuggling of prohibited goods as it requires less docu- mentation, improper declarations and provides speedy clearance, the officer added.
Shipments through FPO has been under close watch of DRI in recent times and DRI seized similar export consignments of psychotropic substances in November 2016 wherein total seizure was of more than 17 lakh tablets. A total of 11 persons were arrested as part of the multi-location operation in Delhi, Mumbai, Ludhiana and Chandigarh.