Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

Myanmarese link to ATS-manufacturing lab established

By K.T. Sangameswaran

CHENNAI JUNE 6. In a swift follow-up on recent detection of a clandestine Amphetamine Type Stimulant (ATS)-manufacturing laboratory in Kolkata, which had international links, officers of the south zonal unit of Narcotics Control Bureau have established a dreaded Myanmarese link in the illegal activity.

Besides summoning for questioning two persons, including a Cuddalore-based businessman, who was running a pharmaceutical company in Pondicherry and a person belonging to Red Hills near here, said to be his associate, the NCB has seized half-a-tonne of ephedrine, a controlled substance, which was sent to the unit in the Union Territory by a chemical company in Andhra Pradesh. A Tamil-speaking Myanmarese repatriate, wanted in connection with the case, has also been `identified', the NCB south zonal unit Director, Shankar Jiwal, told The Hindu.

Soon after the discovery of the laboratory in Kolkata, the bureau officers traced the origin of 24 kg of ephedrine, a chemical used in the manufacture of ATS, which was seized, to a company in Andhra Pradesh. A sustained probe revealed that the chemical was part of 500 kg sold by the company to a pharmaceutical unit in Pondicherry. The unit had obtained the chemical stating it was meant for manufacturing ephedrine tablets of 15 mg potency, medically prescribed as a broncho-dilator.

Though the address given by the unit was found in Pondicherry, no such unit existed there. The premises had been taken on rent till four years ago. Preliminary investigations revealed that the unit was not supplying ephedrine tablets to hospitals, as it had declared. Nor had it complied with the Controlled Substances Order.

In the last two months alone, it obtained 1.5 tonnes of ephedrine in three equal instalments from Andhra Pradesh. Investigators seized the fourth consignment, weighing 500 kg, from a lorry transport office in the Union Territory on Thursday. Following this, the company owner, Ramadoss (52) and Kannan (33) of Red Hills have been summoned. It was through the Myanmarese repatriate that the chemical reached the country's northeast, en route to Myanmar. For the first time, the bureau was able to link the chemical to its destination. The officers also detected that the pharmaceutical company had obtained 950 kg of ephedrine in 1999 and two tonnes this year.

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