THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Police teams will now start snooping on pharma dealers and stockists in Kerala selling Tramadol, a painkiller, after Union Government listed it as “psychotropic substance” under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and decided to strictly monitor its sale.
The decision to check the sale of Tramadol was taken following reports of large scale smuggling of the drug from Indian states for global terror group Islamic State (IS) which is using it extensively as strength booster and painkiller for its fighters.The gazette notification (SO 1761 E) was issued by Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) on April 26, 2018. Intelligence Bureau (IB) sources said a few states had already started crackdown on dealers and stockists of Tramadol after discrepancies were noticed in sales register.
“In Punjab, the drug licences of three drug wholesale dealers were cancelled after discrepancies were noticed in the sale of Tramadol. In Kerala also many dealers are handling Tramadol in bulk. We have inputs on diversion taking place from the stockists,” said an intelligence officer.
State Police Chief Loknath Behera said the state police would definitely look into the sale of Tramadol. “Necessary steps will be taken in this regard in coordination with Drugs Control Department,” he told ‘Express’. Following the notification, Tramadol will no longer be a freely available over the counter medicine in Kerala. Though Tramadol was largely misused as a psychotropic drug in many states by drug rackets, it was the seizure of consignments of Tramadol from various parts of the country that prompted the Centre to bring the drug under NDPS Act.
Even the seizure of large consignment of Tramadol by Italian police in 2017 from port of Gioia Tauro also raised suspicion on the role of Indian rackets in smuggling out the drug for IS. The drugs were stored in three freight containers and were deceitfully recorded as shampoo and synthetic fabrics.