Haryana Home and Health and Family Welfare Minister Anil Vij on Wednesday said that the State Food and Drug Administration Department has busted an international racket selling spurious injections to cure cancer. This is the first case of its kind in which the accused have been arrested in a spurious drug case by a drug control officer and an international racket has been busted in three weeks. A total of four accused, including a foreign national, have been arrested in this case so far, he added.

Addressing a press conference, Vij said that on April 11, 2023, WHO raised an alert that the spurious injection 'Defitelio 80 mg/ml, having the manufacturer's label as 'Genium Sri, Piazza XX, Septiembre 2, Villa Guardia, 22079, Italy' is being marketed internationally. FDA gathered information and laid a trap on April 21. A person namely Sandeep Bhui was nabbed in Gurugram vide selling spurious injection 'Defitelio 80 mg/ml with the same batch number and manufacturer label to decoy customers for Rs. 2.50 Lakh.

He said that on April 21, an email was sent to the original manufacturer whose name and address were on the label. The manufacturing company replied that the product was not authentic and further disclosed that the same batch was also identified in the United Arab Emirates and Kyrgyzstan. After confirmation regarding spurious product injection Defitelio 80 mg/ml from the manufacturing company, accused Sandeep Bhui was arrested by Amandeep Chauhan, Drugs Control Officer, Gurugram. Vij said that accused Sandeep Bhui disclosed that he worked for Moti Ur Rahman Ansari, resident of Okhla, Delhi. On April 28, Moti Ur Rahman Ansari was arrested. On disclosure of Ansari, Kanishk Raj Kumar was arrested. 

He said that record regarding the sale of spurious injection 'Defitelio 80 mg/ml' was also seized from the premises of accused Kanishk Raj Kumar who disclosed that a Turkish citizen Mohammad Ali Tarmani has been visiting his office since January 2023.  He had been purchasing the drug in question from Mohammad Ali Tarmani at the rate of Rs. 1.75 Lakh and used to sell it to his customers at the rate of Rs. 2.50 Lakh.  Turmani was also arrested with the help of Mumbai Police and will be brought to Gurugram after completing all formalities.