Amazon Faces Fresh Marijuana Case in Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam Police has recovered 48 kilograms of marijuana from Amazon workers in a fresh investigation following the initial recovery of the prohibited drug in Bhind, Madhya Pradesh. Upon getting a tip from the Bhind Police, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Visakhapatnam found two Amazon delivery workers with marijuana. The state department also recovered Amazon’s packaging material that was supposedly used for transporting the drug. The latest development comes just after the Bhind Police charged Amazon’s executives under narcotics laws in case of the alleged marijuana smuggling via the online marketplace.

On Saturday, the Visakhapatnam Police arrested Amazon associate Chilakapati Srinivasa Rao, 48, in the city, along with two of its delivery workers for allegedly smuggling marijuana. The accused were found with the drug along with an electronic weighing machine and Amazon’s packaging material, the Bhind Police that tipped the ACB department in Visakhapatnam said in a press note released on Monday.

The accused had two gunny bags, each of which had 24 kilograms of marijuana, according to the first information report (FIR) filed by the police, a copy of which is with Gadgets 360.

Separately, the Madhya Pradesh Police has recovered a fresh lot of 17 kilograms of marijuana from Amazon’s associates for which an FIR has been filed with the Mehgaon Police Station in Madhya Pradesh. Last week, two men were arrested in Bhind for using Amazon to order and smuggle the drug. Executive Directors of Amazon Seller Services — a subsidiary of the US e-commerce giant — were later charged under the Narcotics Drug and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 for the alleged smuggling.

Traders’ body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has demanded the government to suspend Amazon’s operations in the country and arrest its officials for allowing the trade of marijuana. The body has also urged authorities to register a case of treason against the e-commerce company.

CAIT National President BC Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal called Amazon a “Ganja company.” Ganja is the Hindi name for marijuana.

Gadgets 360 has reached out to Amazon for a comment on the matter. This report will be updated when the company responds.

On Sunday, CAIT claimed that back in 2019, Amazon was used for sourcing chemicals of bombs that resulted in the Pulwama terror attack. It alleged that ammonium nitrate, among other materials, was purchased through the online marketplace to prepare the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) for the attack.