24 February 2024 , 23:33
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An elderly shop boss who sells trendy alternative medicines is accused of being part of a £4.8million international drugs racket.
Police believe Praveen Arora’s business was used to smuggle prescription-only painkillers hidden among legitimate herbal therapies. The 74-year-old faces extradition to India – where he could receive a maximum 20 years in jail if convicted. His son Puneet is said to already be in custody in India accused of sourcing the drugs and helping to organise their export to the UK.
Police arrested Arora senior in Birmingham, where he runs a store in the Soho area specialising in Ayurveda – a traditional medicine system popular with celebrities which includes herbal pills, oils, yoga and massage. The operation came four years after police in India seized his son and another man, Vinod Kumar, in a suburb of capital New Delhi.
The pair were allegedly exchanging around 76kg of opioid drugs when officers swooped in February 2020. Police seized a further 156 kilos of Tramadol in a separate operation three days later.
Vinod Kumar was arrested four years ago in India (HANDOUT)
The stash was hidden inside popular 'alternative medicines' (HANDOUT)The haul of over 230 kilos also included Alprazolam. Tramadol and Alprazolam are sold and abused as party drugs, and can trigger life-threatening side-effects.
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Drug-related deaths hit a 30-year high in 2022 for England and Wales with almost half the 4,907 recorded deaths linked to opiates such as Tramadol. According to the global database Statista, there have been 2,079 recorded Tramadol-related deaths in England and Wales between 2013 and 2022.
Arora senior has faced Westminster magistrates for an extradition hearing since his arrest on February 1 and is remanded in custody until next month.
Court documents detail that he faces the charge in India that in February 2020 he “together with Puneet Arora and others was knowingly concerned in…dealing with Tramadol and Alprazolam both Class C drugs”.
No date has been set yet for his full hearing.