The police in U.P.’s Kanpur have said they will slap the National Security Act (NSA) against three persons who were arrested on charges of allegedly smuggling and selling Remdesivir, an injectable drug used in the treatment of COVID-19, at rates higher than in the market.
The arrests come two days after the State government urgently procured 25,000 vials of the drug from Gujarat due to the rise in number of cases and demand for the drug.
In Kanpur, the U.P. Special Task Force, said they recovered 265 vials of Covifor injection (Remdesivir) which the accused persons were smuggling at a higher rate.
The action came after intelligence inputs, stating that since there was a shortage of Remdesivir in local markets, “drug smugglers” were selling it at a much higher price, the UP STF, which carried out the operation, said.
The recovered injections, which cost around ₹5,400 each did not have any batch number or other details, the STF said.
Aseem Arun, Police Commisioner (Kanpur), said the stringent NSA would be lodged against the accused as “it was a crime against humanity”.
The police were trying to identify all those involved in the sourcing and trade of the drugs, he said in a tweet shared by Kanpur police.
The arrested persons were identified as Mohan Soni, Prashant Shukla and Sachin Kumar. Soni and Shukla are medical representatives, the STF said.
