Pramesh S Jain
Narcotics control bureau officials busted international level drug racket and arrested two persons who were smuggling ephedrine to foreign countries through courier services.
The officials have seized 49.3 kgs of ephedrine from them.
Amit Ghawate,Zonal Director NCB said that the racket came to light on last Friday when NCB Hyderabad unit recovered a foreign consignment of kitchen utensils package concealed with 4.3 kgs of ephedrine.
Based on the information,the NCB Bengaluru unit carried raid at a house in Chengalpattu in Tamilnadu and arrested M Mydeen and K Meeran.
The officials based on their information searched the premises and recovered 45 kgs of ephedrine which they have filled it in plastic packets and concealed in a specially designed cavities of kitchen utensils packages.
Both the persons are also involved in the seizure of 4.35kg Methaqualone by NCB Hyderabad.
These packages the accused would courier it to their contacts in foreign countries from international courier centres across the countries where there are less scrunity.
The duo have been taken into custody to ascertain the sources of drugs and also their network which has spread Internationally,Mr. Ghawate,said.
NCB acknowledges the dedicated efforts of Amit Ghawate (Zonal Director,Bangalore),Bruno A.(Zonal Director, Chennai)other officers associated to this case at NCB,Bangalore Zonal Unit and NCB Chennai Zonal Unit.
Controlled Substances like Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine are chemicals,which have genuine use in the manufacturing industry.They are used as intermediary for manufacturing detergents,perfumeries,dyes etc.
However,once diverted,they can also be used for the manufacture of Amphetamine Type Stimulants(ATS).In the past,seizures of these controlled substances have been made by NCB, Bangalore Zonal Unit,where it was found to destined to South East Asian destinations.Of late, it has been found that these controlled substances are also being illegally exported to African destinations,especially South Africa and Australia also,where the possibility of clandestine production of ATS cannot be ruled out.
