Peddlers who ordered scheduled medicines online through a website and procured them illegally are under the radar of police after one of the main suppliers was arrested recently by Mangadu police in Ghaziabad.
The probe by senior police officers in Avadi Police Commissionerate picked up pace following the Mangadu police arresting a major peddler in Ghaziabad last month for selling psychotropic tablets illegally through a website.
Last August, on receiving a complaint from the public, the police arrested Thiyagarajan and Sharath Kumar in Mangadu for selling Tapendentol tablets without prescription. These tablets are used for treating depression among other conditions.
Further investigation revealed that the accused purchased the tablets without prescription on website Online Med Buy. On placing the order on the website, they received a confirmation call from a mobile number and the goods were despatched through a courier in the guise of gym items or supplements.
The analysis of call details of the mobile number led to the location of the seller Harsh Goel at Loni, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. The bank details of the drug seller were analysed. The accused had studied Class 12, worked as mobile sales persons for 10 years and then as a medicine delivery boy for one month. Later, he created his own website online Med Buy by paying ₹25,000 to a popular web-hosting company to develop the website. He illegally purchased tablets and injections from Mumbai and sold them through his website for customers without prescriptions, said the police.
Avadi Police Commissioner Sandeep Rai Rathore said people had ordered scheduled medicines online through this website and procured illegally through courier service firms. They bought from the vendor in Ghaziabad on a few occasions and then distributed it here. There are other people who were buying from them, who are not in our jurisdiction. “We have intimated those units — they can register and investigate the people who have illegally bought and sold here.”
Mr. Rathore said the accused, who was secured in Ghaziabad, was a retail seller who bought supplies from Mumbai. “We are investigating the persons involved in Mumbai.” He said that the courier firms were asked to check the consignment thoroughly.
