Tramadol: Licence of two Amritsar firms suspended

CHANDIGARH: The state drug controller has suspended the licence of Amritsar-based Ramsons Remedies, a manufacturer of tramadol tablets, and export house Royal Enterprises over the dubious deal of supply of 24 million tablets, which were ordered by a Dubai firm but the consignment was allegedly being diverted to ISIS in Syria.

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 20

The state drug controller has suspended the licence of Amritsar-based Ramsons Remedies, a manufacturer of tramadol tablets, and export house Royal Enterprises over the dubious deal of supply of 24 million tablets, which were ordered by a Dubai firm but the consignment was allegedly being diverted to ISIS in Syria.

Acting on a The Tribune report on the seizure of the consignment by the Italy police earlier this month, the state drugs controller along with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) checked the documents of the two firms over suspected irregularities.

More investigating agencies have also initiated probe into the matter. The ED has sought details of transactions of the companies suspecting some shady deals. The US security agencies and Indian agencies are also probing their deals.

NCB Zonal Director Kaustubh Sharma said: “It is worrisome that the ISIS reportedly generates funds for terror activities by selling tablets to addicts in Libya and other countries at 2 Euros each. In India, it is manufactured at Rs 3 per tablet.”

The NCB has sent a report to its headquarters seeking further probe by Central agencies on how two export orders of such high quantity — 24 million and 37 million tablets — got through.

State Drug Controller Pardeep Kumar Mattu said: “Our investigation has found that the Dubai firm does not exit. It sent an order by email. The order was placed from Dubai, but the consignment landed in Sri Lanka. From there, it was on its way to Libya when the Italy Police intercepted it.”

He said the orders were placed from one country and dispatched to another. “The export was done through a third party, which raises suspicion,” he said. On preventing such deals in future, Mattu said the department had framed standard operating procedures for export and manufacturing firms.