Bopal: Senior executives of Amazon’s local unit in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhind, about 500 km from state capital Bhopal, have been charged under the narcotics laws in a case of alleged marijuana smuggling, days after summons were issued against them. Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Dr Narottam Mishra has asked the online retailer to cooperate, warning that action may be taken otherwise.
It has been alleged that 1,000 kg of marijuana, worth roughly $148,000 (Rs 1,09,98,005.80), was sold via the online retailer.
While it has not been revealed how many executives have been charged, police said the case has been filed under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act due to contradictions in the reply filed by Amazon and evidence they collected.
On November 14, two men Suraj and Bijendra Singh Tomar, who run a roadside dhaba, were arrested with 20 kg ganja that they allegedly sourced from Visakhapatnam using Amazon, the police said.
“They had been sourcing drugs using the major online shopping platform for the last four months. Around one tonne of ganja had already been sourced by them in the last four months using the same platform. Transactions worth ₹ 1.10 crore had taken place during this period,” Bhind police officer Manoj Kumar Singh said.
Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Dr. Narottam Mishra, calling it a matter of “great concern”, warned, “There are no guidelines for online businesses. We’ll make guidelines for the state. Amazon was called but they’re not cooperating. We will bring them. I appeal to Amazon’s MD-CEO to cooperate or else we’ll initiate action.”
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