New Delhi, April 21, 2005
An international Internet drug ring, allegedly headed by two Indian nationals, has been busted and more than 20 people were arrested from several cities across the globe including New Delhi, Mumbai and Agra.
Operation Cyber Chase
US drug-enforcement officials, launched "Operation Cyber Chase' on operators of "rogue" pharmacies on the Internet, after the DEA Philadelphia Division identified a Philadelphia-based international Internet drug trafficking organisation, allegedly headed by Brij Bhushan Bansal, an Agra-based physician, and his Philadelphia-based son Akhil Bansal.
Akhil Bansal, 26, a student at the Temple University, reportedly managed the US operations of the ring.
The Bansal Organisation allegedly repackaged controlled substances, smuggled into the United States from India and other countries and distributed them throughout the US and the world, the US Drug Enforcement Administration said.
How Bansals were busted
According to reports, Bansal and his family members were arrested following raids on his residence and clinics by a 20-member team from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the narcotics department.
In a well-planned move, which reportedly took a year to arrange, the team simultaneously arrested the doctor, his brother in Agra, a daughter and son-in-law in Jaipur, a son in the US and a daughter-in-law in Canada.
The year-long "Operation Cyber Chase" began after two suspicious shipments were spotted at the Philadelphia International Airport in February 2004 by a supervisor at the Airborne Express terminal. On inspection, the shipments, addressed to Abbas Enterprises in Chester city, were found to contain diazepam.
The raid that began on Tuesday at the doctor's Kamlanagar residence, a posh colony of Agra, took close to 24 hours.
Bansal has been admitted to Kamayani hospital after he complained of heart trouble. His brother has been sent to jail after he was produced in the court on Wednesday, reports indicated.
The houses were raided in Jaipur and Agra, while other relatives were taken into custody in the US and Canada, including the doctor's son Akhil in New York and daughter-in-law in Canada, reports said.
Akhil Bansal has been described in court papers as a graduate student at Temple University in Philadelphia and running the US branch of the organisation.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5967_1330631,001600060001.htm