A man was taken into custody and 10 medical oxygen cylinders of 68-litre capacity and two cylinders of 48-litre capacity were seized from his possession, for stocking and selling medical oxygen without a license, by officials of the Drugs Control Administration (DCA), Visakhapatnam late on Friday night.
B. Jagadeesh Kumar, the accused, was allegedly involved in the illegal sale and black marketing of medical oxygen cylinders at M/s Moray Smart Solutions at MVP Colony in the city. According to K. Rajitha, Assistant Director, DCA, Visakhapatnam, based on information received from the Director General, DCA, Guntur on Friday, a decoy operation was conducted.
Drugs Inspector D. Suneeta Visakhapatnam (V&I) contacted the accused over telephone for medical oxygen. He told her that the stock would be ready in the evening and said the price was ₹55000. In the evening, the accused told Ms. Suneeta that he has big cylinders only and the price was ₹78000.
The Drugs Inspector along with CI (V&E), Visakhapatnam, approached the accused, posing as customers to purchase the cylinder. He asked them to pay ₹50,000 in cash and the remaining ₹28000 online.
The accused did not have any licence to stock and sell medical oxygen, and the cylinders were seized under the cover of Panchanama and Form-16 by Drugs Inspector (Sales), Visakhapatnam, P.N.V.V.S.Kalyani. The seizure was completed by 11 p.m. on Friday and the accused was handed over to the MVP Police.
The accused was produced in court on Saturday.