ED arrests Punjab businessman in drugs trafficking case

New Delhi, Dec 10 (PTI) A Punjab-based businessman has been arrested under the anti-money laundering law in an alleged drugs trafficking case, the Enforcement Directorate said on Wednesday.

Abhishek Kumar was taken into custody on Tuesday and was sent to a six-day remand by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mohali, it said in a statement.

The ED case stems from a Punjab Police FIR where it was alleged that a large-scale inter-state trafficking of psychotropic tablets and capsules, particularly Tramadol and Alprazolam, was being done by a network of medicine retailers and wholesalers.

Abhishek Kumar was allegedly found to be involved in the generation and acquisition of "illicit" funds through the sale of psychotropic tablets (Tramadol and Alprazolam), the ED said.

Through his firm, Shree Shyam Medical Agency, Abhishek Kumar procured bulk quantities of these psychotropic tablets from wholesalers and manufacturers and diverted or sold about 75 per cent of the stock out of the book, the agency said.

To "conceal" the illicit transactions, the ED said, he "inflated" legal sales and generated proceeds of crime worth Rs 3.75 crore in cash.

The probe agency said the middlemen (wholesalers and retailers) procured the tablets from such firms as Biogenetic Drugs, CB Healthcare, Smilax Pharmachem Drug Industries, Aster Pharma, and Soul Health Care (I).

The accused and the companies named by the ED could not be contacted immediately for a comment. PTI MHS NES VN VN