A report released by the United Nations office of Drugs and Crime said on Wednesday that illegal Internet pharmacies are thriving in India and they are increasingly becoming a source of pharmaceutical drug abuse across the globe.

The annual International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) report released said," India has emerged as one of the main sources of drugs sold through illegal Internet pharmacies, where orders placed abroad are dispatched to buyers using couriers and postal services, which have become a common means of smuggling drugs abroad."

Pharma drug abuse in Bhutan and Bangladesh are also gradually picking up, said the international report.

It said seizures of amphetamine-type stimulants show that trafficking of these substances may be increasing in South Asia and it has also become a location for their manufacture.

The report further said," A number of clandestine methamphetamine laboratories have been discovered in India in recent years."

Ish Kumar, deputy director general of India's Narcotic Control Bureau, told IANS said," We have busted nine major cases of Internet pharmacy in the past few years. We are taking a lot of steps to control the menace but to monitor the Internet is a huge task."

Adding that they have sensitised several parcel service providers to curb the menace and get hold of the rackets involved in the process, Kumar said," We are following a system of controlled delivery, which has given us some positive results so far."

The global body said," The widespread abuse of pharmaceutical preparations containing narcotic drugs, example Codeine, is an ongoing problem in Bangladesh. Pharmaceutical preparations containing Benzodiazepines are among the most widely abused in Bhutan." (With Input from Agencies)