Indian police mentioned on Saturday they’d charged senior executives of Amazon’s native unit below narcotics legal guidelines in a case of alleged marijuana smuggling through the web retailer.

Police within the central Madhya Pradesh state arrested two males with 20kg of marijuana on November 14 and located they had been utilizing the Amazon India web site to order and additional smuggle the substance within the guise of stevia leaves, a pure sweetener, to different Indian states.

State police mentioned in a press release that govt administrators of Amazon India had been being named as accused below the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act because of variations in solutions in paperwork supplied by the corporate in response to police questions and details unearthed by dialogue.

Police didn’t disclose what number of executives had been charged.

The police, who had beforehand summoned and spoken to Amazon executives within the case, estimate that about 1,000kg of marijuana, price roughly $148,000 (roughly Rs. 1.1 crore), was bought through Amazon.

Amazon mentioned in a press release that it doesn’t enable the itemizing and sale of legally prohibited merchandise, including that it takes strict motion towards sellers in case of any contravention.

“The issue was notified to us and we are currently investigating it,” Amazon mentioned of the alleged marijuana smuggling.

Indian authorities have lately intensified their efforts to crack down on illicit medicine. Many high-profile Indian actors and TV personalities have been below scrutiny from narcotics officers since final yr.

© Thomson Reuters 2021