The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached bank fixed deposits worth Rs 1.93 crore belonging to Telangana-based Hygro Chemicals Pharmtek Pvt Ltd under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for illegally manufacturing and dealing in a scheduled drug DextroPropoxyphene Hydrochloride (DPP HCL).
The ED had initiated money laundering investigation against the firm based at Bollaram in Medak district Telangana on the basis of case registered by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Hyderabad for illicit sale/purchase, manufacture, and inter-State sale of a scheduled drug under the provisions of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, the ED said in a statement.
The accused firm Hygro Chemicals Pharmtek Pvt Ltd which had license from Central Bureau of Narcotics, Gwalior, to manufacture DPP HCL, had clandestinely misused the license and illegally despatched 6,450 Kg of DPP HCL to a Partnership concern JK Pharma Agencies, New Delhi, during the period between 2004 and 2006 via 26 Airway bills and by mis-declaring the same as some other chemical, it said.
“When in the wrong hands, DPP HCL can be used as a raw material to make narcotic substances. The said drug was illegally sold at Rs 3,000 per kilogram and thus the accused company had generated proceeds of crime worth Rs 1,93,50,000,” it said.
Accordingly, the agency traced equivalent assets in the form of Fixed Deposits of the accused company and in order to prevent their alienation before the conclusion of the trial, the ED has issued a Provisional Attachment Order (PAO) attaching the fixed deposits, it said, adding, further investigation is in progress.