Kash Patel takes oath as FBI director on Bhagwat Gita
Kash Patel takes oath as FBI director on Bhagwat Gita
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These pills go under different brand names and are packaged to look like legitimate medicines. They are cheap and easily available in many West African countries
A MUMBAI-BASED drug company Aveo Pharmaceuticals is manufacturing unlicenced, highly addictive drugs and exporting them illegally to Africa, reports BBC.
A multi-country investigation by the broadcaster found that the drugs made by the Indian firm are easily available in many West African countries including Ghana, Nigeria, and Cote D’Ivoire.
Aveo Pharmaceuticals makes a range of pills that go under different brand names and are packaged to look like legitimate medicines.
But they all contain the same harmful mix of ingredients: tapentadol, a powerful opioid, and carisoprodol, a muscle relaxant that is addictive and banned in Europe.
This combination of drugs is not licenced for use anywhere in the world and can cause breathing difficulties and seizures. An overdose can kill.
However, these opioids are popular as street drugs in many West African countries, because they are cheap and widely available.
The BBC found packets of them, branded with the Aveo logo, for sale on the streets of Ghanaian, Nigerian, and Ivoirian towns and cities.
They also sent a person undercover posing as an African businessman to the Mumbai factory.
Using hidden camera, the BBC filmed one of Aveo’s directors, Vinod Sharma, who showed the same dangerous products that were available in West Africa.
Sharma admitted they are “very harmful” for the health, but said it was part of his business.
When African countries increase their crackdown on a particular illegal drug, Aveo Pharmaceuticals exports a new combination pills, with same or similar ingredients, to evade crackdowns.
Drugs to Pakistan
The Enforcement Directorate attached assets of a Telangana-based pharmaceutical company under the anti-money laundering law on charges of illegally exporting over 18,000 kg of pharma drugs to Pakistan.
A provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was issued on Wednesday (19) against the company Lucent Drugs Pvt. Ltd. based in the Sangareddy district of the state.
The attached assets include land, building and factory premises of the company and these are valued at ₹56.7 million, the federal probe agency said in a statement.
The company or its directors could not be contacted immediately for their response to the ED action.
The money laundering case stems from a complaint filed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) against the company for “contravention” of psychotropic substances regulation laws, illegal export of Tramadol drug and forgery of documents relating to various export authorisations, the ED said.
Tramadol is a synthetic opioid-like drug used as a painkiller.
However, global anti-narcotics agencies have found that its shipments originating from India and other countries were being illegally diverted for use by ISIS terrorists operating in Syria and other locations apart from other terror groups like the Boko Haram of Nigeria.
It was declared a “psychotropic substance” by India in 2018 and its sale in the country is regulated and monitored by the NCB.
The ED said Lucent Drugs Pvt. Ltd. has been in the business of manufacturing and exporting Tramadol to its overseas clients, including those based in Pakistan.
It claimed that an investigation found that the company initially got a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN) to export Tramadol to Pakistan but later this authorisation was revoked.
However, the promoters and directors of Lucent Drugs Pvt. Ltd. “illegally” re-exported 13,800 kg of Tramadol valued at Rs 4.12 crore to Pakistan through Denmark-based company CHR Olesen Pharmaceuticals and a second consignment of 5,000 kg of Tramadol valued at ₹13.3 million through a Malaysia-based firm SM Biomed, the ED said.
The company received export funds or proceeds of crime of ₹54.6 million in its bank accounts as a result of these “illegal” exports of Tramadol to Pakistan, it added. (Agencies) Report this page