ISIS drug smuggling: Court rejects anticipatory bail plea of exporter, employee | Mumbai news - Hindustan Times
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ISIS drug smuggling: Court rejects anticipatory bail plea of exporter, employee

May 29, 2023 12:29 AM IST

A Bangalore-based export firm's anticipatory bail plea has been rejected by a special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court. The company's proprietor and accountant were booked for attempting to smuggle around 10 lakh tablets of Tramadol to Sudan. The tablets were seized by the Customs department and forensic reports revealed that they were mis-declared both in terms of quantity and description. Tramadol is a psychotropic substance also known as the ISIS drug, which has been abused as an intoxicating drug.

MUMBAI: A special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court recently rejected the anticipatory bail plea of the proprietor and accountant of a Bangalore-based export firm booked for allegedly trying to smuggle around 10 lakh tablets of Tramadol to Sudan.

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Tramadol, a psychotropic substance, is also known as ISIS drug as Islamic State fighters use it to beat fatigue during prolonged warfare and as stimulants.

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On February 27, the Customs department seized a consignment bound to south Sundan belonging to First Wealth Solutions following a tip-off and found 9,99,500 tablets. In the shipping bill of February 22, the firm had described that the consignment contained 21 packets of 10.5 lakh Tamol-X-225, a calcium carbonate supplement.

Forensic reports revealed that the goods were mis-declared both in terms of quantity and description. The report received on March 10 was positive for Tramadol, a psychotropic substance and a Schedule H drug which can only be dispensed under the prescription of a registered medical practitioner.

Over the past few years, agencies have noticed that the drug has been abused as an intoxicating drug and it was added to the schedule of psychotropic substances under the NDPS Act in 2018.

After the Customs department sent summons to the firm, its authorised signatory Gudipati Subhramanyam appeared before the officials and admitted that he was trying to smuggle the tablets out of the country for monetary consideration.

When the agency summoned the proprietor of the firm Vidhya S and accountant Rajani Kanth Grandey, apprehending arrest, the duo had approached the special NDPS court for anticipatory bail.

They claimed that the company was authorised and licensed by the Government of India under the Food safety and Standards Authority of India licence to carry food business and has been certified with an Import Export CODE (IEC) by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry through the Director General of Foreign Trade.

Opposing their plea, the Customs department stated that their investigation had revealed that there had been a large-scale diversion to the tune of approximately 3 crore tablets or 6,750 kg of high doses of tramadol to vulnerable markets.

The department further claimed that Grandey is brother-in-law of Gudipati, with whom he ran a firm by name M/s Irishelth Global Pvt Ltd. Further, the agency claimed that First Well Solutions used to procure Tramadol tablets from M/s. Safe Formulations Pvt. Ltd and thereafter they used to repack them in boxes bearing description as calcium carbonate tablets.

Accepting the contentions of the agency, the court rejected the pre-arrest bail plea. “Prima facie material placed on record indicates the role of the applicants and company in commission of serious offence of transporting Tramadol tablets by mis-declaring them as calcium carbonate,” the court said, adding “Though, it was tried to canvas on behalf of applicants that the applicant’s company is having valid licence to transport the tramadol tablets, no explanation has been offered for transporting Tramadol in the name of calcium carbonate.”

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