With India emerging as a major 'source market' for online drug trafficking, a number of small-time call centres and websites are now under the scrutiny of country's anti-narcotics cell.
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The increased vigil comes after the Narcotics Control Bureau recently busted two international syndicates operating through a call centre and a software firm to smuggle Psychotropic drugs overseas.
"Yes, we have a system in place and we are closely monitoring websites and numerous small and medium call centres that have mushroomed," NCB Zonal Director (Delhi) Sandeep Mittal told PTI.
"A number of websites have been launched by unscrupulous people through which one can place their order. After the payment is done through a credit card, the order is sent to a source country from where the banned or regulated drugs are smuggled out to the buyer. This is how many firms indulge in this illegal activity," said Mittal.
The NCB had busted a drug racket involving a software firm in the capital in early May. It was involved in illegal online trading in regulated pharmaceutical drugs.
Following the arrest of four persons including a postal agent, NCB seized over 90,000 regulated and banned tablets valued at over Rs one crore in the international market that were to be smuggled out.
"The software business was only a front for these men. They also claimed to be a real estate firm besides being into software development business," said Mittal.
This seizure followed a similar such operation by NCB in March during which it raided a call centre in Noida and seized a number of pre-labelled packets of an international courier company with large quantity of banned drugs in it.
This was the second call centre found engaged in drug smuggling using internet pharmacies in the past one year. In the previous case, a Kolkata-based BPO was busted in 2007.
"In the latest incident, the so called software firm had set up two websites through which orders were placed. In some cases, the orders are placed over general internet services or through call centres," Mittal said, but added, "It is not right to paint the industry black because of a few rotten apples."
According to experts, India is fast turning into a source market for various banned or regulated drugs.
They point out that foreign based agents, chat rooms and internet pharmacies are being used by the syndicate to fish for customers and the drugs are procured from illicit channels in India in collusion with some pharmaceutical companies.
In the Kolkata call centre incident, sources said the firm had created software through which US doctors' signatures were duplicated and hence the customers could buy certain drugs, which were otherwise not available.
Refuting the view that India is emerging as a source market for online drug trafficking, Mittal said that recent incidents show that the anti-narcotic cell is vigilant.
"We keep monitoring such illegal activities and the arrests show that India is vigilant enough to counter the traffickers' intentions," he said.
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