Officers of the Civil Supplies CID on Tuesday arrested a doctor and pharmacist working in the COVID-19 facility at the King Institute in Guindy for illegal sale of the drug Remdesivir.
Police said following information, a special team of personnel, led by Deputy Superintendent of Police John Sundar, mounted surveillance near the Guindy bus stand in the SIDCO Industrial Estate.
Decoy deployed
They deployed a decoy and enquired about the rate of the drug through WhatsApp with the doctor.
The doctor asked ₹20,000 for a vial and after agreeing to buy the drug, a team of plainclothes policemen waited at the bus stand. They intercepted a car, which was driven by the doctor, identified as P. Ramasundram, working in the COVID-19 facility at King Institute and found 12 vials of Remdesivir in the car, the police said.
While the team was questioning the doctor, another person, identified as N. Karthik, 27, a pharmacist, who also worked at the King Institute, arrived on a two-wheeler and handed over 12 more Remdesivir vials.
The duo were arrested and handed over to personnel from the Guindy police station.
Sources said the pharmacist brought the drug from the COVID-19 facility illegally and sold it to the doctor for ₹5,000 per vial.
The doctor would in turn sell them for ₹20,000, the police said.
