"These are internationally accepted tools for minimising law enforcement interface with business entities," an NCB statement said in Mumbai on Tuesday. NCB has successfully implemented such a regime for controlling illegal trade in chemicals used in manufacture of narcotic drugs.
NCB also advised the chemists and druggists association that retail chemists are not so much a source of organised trafficking as the companies' appointed dealers, distributors and stockists.
4,000 drugs may vanish from market
"It has been felt that in a bid to maximise sales, companies land up engaging even persons of doubtful antecedents for distribution of highly addictive medicines," NCB said.
"Some of these elements are even said to be connected to Dubai-based drug trafficking groups," it said.
"There appears to be some misapprehensions about the nature of investigation and the law as it exists today. It is clarified that the NCB is targeting only those firms and personnel that have indulged in large-scale diversion of injections," NCB said adding that "the diversions are not taking place at the retail chemists level."
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