ED Files Charges Against Lucent Drugs for Exporting Drugs to Pakistan
Hyderabad firm accused of bypassing revoked licence, laundering Rs 5.46 crore proceeds
Hyderabad: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Hyderabad Zonal Office, has filed a chargesheet against Lucent Drugs and others for exporting 18,800 kg of the opoid pain-killer Tramadol to Pakistan despite the cancellation of the previous approval by the Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN).
According to the investigation, Lucent Drugs initially obtained a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the CBN to export the painkiller to Pakistan. The bureau later revoked the permission.
To bypass this, the accused allegedly re-exported 13,800 kg of Tramadol, valued at Rs 4.12 crore, to Pakistan through their Denmark-based client CHR Olesen Pharmaceuticals and another 5,000 kg of the drug, valued at Rs 1.34 crore, through Malaysia-based SM Biomed and received export proceeds.
As a result of these illegal exports, Lucent Drugs generated and received proceeds of crime (POC) totalling Rs 5.46 crore in its bank accounts on February 19, 2025. The ED had earlier attached immovable properties, including a building and factory premises worth Rs 5.46 crore, belonging to the company.
The ED’s investigation also revealed that the proceeds of crime were intermingled with the business operations of Lucent Drugs and projected as untainted funds in the form of legitimate sales proceeds from other countries.
The Enforcement Directorate initiated investigation on the basis of a complaint filed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Bengaluru, under Section 36A of the NDPS Act for contravention in relation to psychotropic substances, their illegal export from India, contravention of orders made under the NDPS Act and forgery of records and documents relating to the various export authorisations undertaken by Lucent Drugs.
On March 21, 2022, the officers of the NCB-Bengaluru searched the premises of Lucent Drugs and detected that the company had re-exported 25,000 kg of Tramadol to Pakistan without permission. Following the raids, the NCB arrested Lucent’s four top officials, including managing director Vinod Jain, associate vice-president Devarasetty Sai Vikas and other employees on March 18 of that year.
