Two Amazon executives charged over online delivery of marijuana in India’s Madhya Pradesh

Two Amazon executives in India have been booked in connection with the alleged smuggling of marijuana through the e-commerce platform, police said.

Action against the executives comes days after the arrest of two people on November 13 who were involved in the smuggling of cannabis. Around 20 kilograms of cannabis were confiscated from them at that time.

During a probe, the police found that the accused, who were arrested from Bhind town in India’s central Madhya Pradesh state, sold marijuana through the e-commerce service.

It has been claimed that 1,000 kg of marijuana, worth roughly $148,000 (around 10 million Indian rupees) was sold through the online platform, so far.

Explaining their modus operandi, police said the accused —Bijendra Singh Tomar and Suraj Paviaya—were smuggling cannabis, tagged as ‘curry leaves’, from southern Andhra Pradesh state and delivering it through the e-commerce service to other cities like Bhopal, Gwalior, Kota and Agra.

Following the arrest, the Amazon officials were booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, for providing contradictory answers and documents in response to the police questions.

Madhya Pradesh police had earlier issued a 20-point notice to Amazon as part of their investigation into the alleged smuggling of marijuana.

Earlier, Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishracalledthe online delivery of drugs a matter of "great concern".

“There are no guidelines for online businesses. We'll make guidelines for the state. Amazon was called but they're not cooperating. We will bring them. I appeal to Amazon's MD-CEO to cooperate or else we'll initiate action,” he said.

(With inputs from agencies)