Man gets 10-yr jail over bid to send banned meds to US during pandemic

CHENNAI: A city-based medicine wholesaler lands in jail for 10 years for attempting to send psychotropic drugs to clients in the USA through air mail at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, in September 2020.

A special court was hearing the case. Despite the accused arguing that he was only aware that the medicines he attempted to send were banned for export, but was not aware that it was an offense under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, the court held him guilty and convicted him. The court also slapped a fine of Rs 2.3 lakh on him.

Syed Shirajuddin Badsha of Anna Salai was arrested by the Chennai Customs Department in September 2020 after customs officials intercepted parcels containing psychotropic substances in unregistered letters to foreign countries. He has been in judicial custody till date.

According to the prosecution, the parcels booked by Badsha had psychotropic substances- 55 grams of Clonazepam 1mg(commercial name Lonazep), 126 grams of Zolpidem Tartrate -10 (commercial name Zolfresh) and 374.4 grams of Methyl Phenidate tablets (commercial name Addwize).

As per government regulations, any drug and pharmaceuticals that are exported from India need a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Drug Control Department.

A probe by the Customs Department revealed that Badsha had also booked more than 200 parcels to foreign countries containing medicines, but not all of them contained psychotropic drugs. On searching his house in Anna Salai, the officials found other air mail with medicines addressed to US clients.

During the trial, the counsel for the accused argued that all the medicines are manufactured by licensed pharmaceuticals and that his client could be held only for preparation to commit an offence and not attempt to commit an offence.

The counsel also argued that his client has been sending tablets to a man in the USA, who needed Zolpidem, and Clonazpam for his son who was diagnosed with ADHD.

“The accused never had any intention and knowledge that he was dealing with a psychotropic substance. He was only determined to carry out his intention to send medicines to needy persons abroad,” his counsel argued.

After considering the arguments from both sides, the special Judge, J Juliet Pushpa noted that if the mail were not detained, they would have been delivered abroad and it is a case of an attempt, not preparation, as put forth by the defence counsel and held the accused guilty on three counts of NDPS act.