Psychotropic drugs en route to US seized at airport, Madurai pharma exporter held

CHENNAI: Customs officials arrested a pharma exporter for smuggling psychotropic drugs at the Chennai airport.

Based on intelligence, Chennai Air Customs intercepted two postal parcels at the Foreign Post Office suspected to contain psychotropic drugs, which were destined to the US. The first parcel had 20 strips of alprazolam concealed inside a cardboard packet wrapped with black carbon paper. The customs recovered a total of 300 tablets of alprazolam from the packet. In the second parcel, 155 tablets of lorazepam, clonazepam and diazepam were found concealed similarly. A total of 455 tablets of psychotropic drugs was recovered and seized under the NDPS Act.

The officials found that the parcels were destined to Gallatin in Tennessee and Alexander in Arkansas, USA, and were booked from Madurai.

On investigation, it was found that the parcels were booked by a person who is running a pharmaceutical export firm in Madurai, which is exporting Ayurvedic, Siddha and Allopathic medicines. The exporter has sent the drugs to overseas buyers using a fake name without authorisation from Narcotics Commissioner and the payments were received through Paypal. The exporter was arrested.

These psychotropic drugs fall under Schedule ‘H’ and ‘H1’ of Drug and Cosmetic Rule 1945. They are also covered under the NDPS Act, 1985. For legal export of these drugs, a license is required from the Narcotics Commissioner. These drugs belong to a class of medicine known as benzodiazepine, which are used for the treatment of anxiety, seizures and panic attacks. The abuse of these drugs is common among youth. Further investigation is in progress.