Police bust interstate racket involved in illicit pharmaceuticals trade
The Delhi Police has arrested four persons allegedly linked with an interstate racket involved in the manufacture, relabelling and distribution of spurious prescription drugs, unearthing an illegal processing and repackaging unit in northwest Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar area.
Police said the illicit operations allegedly involved diversion of medicines meant for government hospitals in Uttar Pradesh, removal of original labels and identifying marks, and their illegal sale in Delhi-NCR and northeastern states after repackaging.
The arrestees include the alleged kingpin Manoj Kumar Jain (56), a resident of Mukherjee Nagar; Raju Kumar Mishra (57) from Panchkula in Haryana; Vikram Singh alias Sunny (32) and Vatan (35), both residents from Prayagraj.
According to police, counterfeits of several life-saving medicines, including rabies vaccines, snake venom antiserum, insulin, human albumin and Hepatitis-B vaccines, were being circulated by the syndicate, posing a serious threat to public health. “A team of the crime branch had been constituted on April 22 to gather intelligence regarding the illegal trade of spurious and government-supplied medicines in Delhi,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Pankaj Kumar said in a statement.
During the operation, police received specific information that an organised gang was collecting medicines supplied to government hospitals, removing their original packaging and relabelling them for commercial sale in Delhi-NCR and northeastern states.
Acting on the input, the team coordinated with the drugs control department of the Delhi government and conducted a raid at a premises in Indra Vikas Colony in Mukherjee Nagar.
Drug inspectors from the drugs control department and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) also participated in the raid.
“During the search, the team apprehended Manoj Kumar Jain from the premises and recovered a huge quantity of branded medicines, government supply drugs, suspected counterfeit medicines, packaging and labelling material and machinery allegedly used in illegal manufacturing and relabelling,” the officer said.
Police said the recovery indicated the existence of a well-organised network engaged in large-scale illicit production and circulation of spurious pharmaceutical products. A case was registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act at the Crime Branch police station on April 23.
