Narcotics Bureau turns attention to Indian BPOs

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Narcotics Bureau turns attention to Indian BPOs

The Bureau suspects a few BPOs supply drugs to ‘Internet Pharmacies’

R Jai Krishna

Thursday, March 27, 2008

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NEW DELHI, INDIA: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is on the lookout for BPOs catering to 'internet pharmacy' processes out of India, following the seizure of more than 10.5 kgs of drugs from a Noida-based call centre on Monday.

"We suspect international ramifications and a global ring of operatives which have outsourced the 'Internet Pharmacies' processes to Indian call centres. India has now become a hub of these internet pharmacies as the cost of sourcing the medicines are very low through online," a senior NCB official told CyberMedia News on condition of anonymity.

The decision of the NCB to keep a watch on BPO's comes after the arrest of two people followed by a raid on a Noida-base call center, which allegedly stocked drugs to be couriered to US cities.

The official said that the modus operandi is very simple.

"There is Schedule H and Schedule A drugs, which are life-saving medicines. These drugs are available in the Indian market at a very low rate, due to the growth of the indigenous pharma industry here. Though some of these medicines, which are regulated by the Drug and Cosmetics Act have been banned, only 20 out of the 110 drugs are in the restricted list. The same is very costly in US pharmacy stores but can be procured through illegal means at a very low price," he said.

"Portals are hosted in the US which act as 'internet pharmacy' and sell the same costly medicines at a low rate. People who want the medicines order online and also payment is made through an online transaction. The Indian BPOs have access to some of these websites, download the order forms, process it and send a courier from here through the legal channel, without disclosing the nature of the packet," the official informed.

"We have seized banned drugs and have arrested two people, including a local television journalist. They have been sent to judicial custody. However, the CEO of the company is still absconding. We do not rule out the involvement of similar call centres across the country, after similar instances in Agra, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad," he added.

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