New Delhi, NFAPost: The Confederation of All India Traders ( CAIT) sent a communication to Director, Narcotics Control Bureau urging him to take immediate cognisance of seriousness of sale of marijuana through ecommerce portal of Amazon and take firm legal action.
CAIT National President B C Bhartia and Secretary General Mr Praveen Khandelwal said that it s a serious question of law that must not be left unattended because it poses national security threats and is similar to illicit trade of arms.
“Amazon’s involvement in illegal activities to hurt India must not go unnoticed and an investigation must be initiated under NDPS Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC),” said the CAIT office bearers.
They also pointed out that Amazon which keeps boasting of its capabilities in artificial intelligence and machine learning has been unable to detect what is being sold on its platform.
“It is our strong belief that Amazon is not only actively facilitating this racket but is actively involved in the smuggling of Marijuana through its platform. This is the only way to justify Amazon’s commission of INR 66 lakhs (66% commission) on the sale of Marijuana worth more than Rs 1 crore. Amazon has contravened Section 20(b) of NDPS Act that says “produces, manufactures, possesses, sells, purchases, transports, imports inter-State, exports inter-State or uses cannabis, shall be punishable,” said the CAIT officials.
Both trade leaders further said that Amazon has been operating illegally in the garb of being an “intermediary” under the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, whereas, they are actively involved in the sale of illegal substances, booking of revenue and huge profits and are also providing their warehousing and delivery services for sale of such illegal items.
In fact, Amazon has been resorting to illegal activities of all kinds – ranging from violation of laws like FEMA, Competition Act and now smuggling of Marijuana to spoil the youth of our country. It is high time that investigating agencies like the NCB take cognizance of the illegal activities of Amazon and initiate an urgent investigation into such smuggling of narcotic substances.
“This is the need of the hour and must be done immediately before Amazon removes all such stock from its warehouses across the country and comes up with a well thought out justification,” they said.
In another communication sent to SP, Bhind, MP, whose team has busted the racket, the CAIT said that the data and information on the platform are not of third parties but are on account of a direct relationship between “Amazon as marketplace and logistic provider” and the “Seller”.
The information provided by the “a seller to marketplace platform” or “from marketplace platform to the customers” and vice versa cannot be called as third-party data as the platform is in full knowledge of such data and
The CAIT further said that it is noteworthy that police agencies take a keen interest in preventing the trade and misuse of narcotic substances to protect the youth of this country and has been proactive to even prevent such misuse for small quantities.
Amazon’s involvement could be way more than the seized commercial quantity of 20 kilograms of Marijuana because a similar news story was reported last year in Jaipur where an Amazon.in user was involved in the supply of upto 32 kilograms of Marijuana . In view of the staggering quantity of Marijuana seized, immediate action must be taken against Amazon.
