Senior officials from Amazon’s local subsidiary in Bhind, Madhya Pradesh, have been charged with narcotics offences in a case of alleged marijuana smuggling, only days after summons were filed against them. Dr. Narottam Mishra, the Home Minister of Madhya Pradesh, has ordered the online shop to comply, warning that if it does not, action will be done.
The internet vendor is accused of selling 1,000 kg of marijuana for around $148,000 (Rs 1,09,98,005.80).
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 Rs. 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.”
