Mumbai, Dec 21 (PTI) The Narcotics Control Bureau busted an international racket involving illegal trafficking of pharma drugs from India to Australia and has arrested three persons with amphetamine and other items worth Rs 3 crore, an official said on Thursday.

Acting on a tip off on Tuesday that a consignment of drugs was being sent to Australia, a DRI team visited a courier firm and zeroed in on a parcel containing a steel table, he said.

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"While examining the table, drug packets were found concealed inside specially designed cavities. These packets contained a white powder which turned out to be 9.877 kilograms of amphetamine. We have also seized 2.548 kilograms of Zolpidem Tarterate tablets and 6.545 kilograms of Tramadol tablets, all cumulatively worth Rs 3 crore," he said.

A probe led to the arrest of one V Singh on Wednesday, while his interrogation resulted in the nabbing of his associates G Mishra and P Sharma from Mumbai.

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"A huge consignment of illicitly diverted pharmaceutical drugs was found from their premises. This was ready to be dispatched to foreign destinations. We seized 9,800 Zolpidem Tarterate tablets and 18,700 Tramadol tablets in this follow-up action," he said.

The investigation revealed the accused are well acquainted with the functioning of the international parcel mechanism and have been involved in the trafficking of drugs previously, the official said.

The syndicate was in this business for the past two to three years and was misusing documents for sending such drug consignments, he said.

A detailed probe into the racket is underway, the official added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)