The Delhi Police Crime Branch busted an interstate fake medicine racket supplying large quantities of international ‘life-saving’ drugs, and seized medicines worth crores of rupees, the police said on Thursday, adding that the bust had come amid a sharp rise in the supply of fake medicines in the Capital’s retail markets.
The first arrests in the case were made after a van was intercepted in Tilak Marg, from which police unearthed a large quantity of drugs used to treat diabetes and migraines.
After the initial arrest of two individuals, the police then conducted a series of raids, arresting ten persons in total.
“We arrested ten people, including two kingpins, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, and pharmacists, all of whom were linked to the racket,” a senior officer said.
According to the police, the fake medicines seized do not contain any active ingredients that could potentially pose a threat to the lives of the people dependent on their consumption.
“The manufacturing facilities have been traced back to Shamli and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, where raw materials, empty printed boxes, packaging material, and machinery parts were seized,” added the officer.
The drug racket has links spread across Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and U.P., said the police.
A case under sections 420 (cheating), 328 (causing harm by means of poison), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and others of the Indian Penal Code, and sections 63 (infringement of copyright) and 65 (possessing plates intended to infringe upon copyright) of the Copyright Act, has been registered.
