In two raids conducted by separate units on Monday, the Mumbai Police Crime Branch seized large caches of hand sanitisers and face masks allegedly being hoarded to be sold at increased prices to capitalise on the novel coronavirus crisis.
The first raid was conducted on Maulana Azad Road in Madanpura on Monday evening by the Crime Branch Unit III after police inspector Nitin Patil received a tip-off saying three-ply surgical masks were being sold at ₹25 apiece, instead of the ₹15 fixed by the government.
“Acting on the information received, we raided the a room in the Patra Chawl in Madanpura and arrested Aquib Ansari (22). We seized 1.22 lakh three-ply surgical masks from the room, worth ₹30.52 lakh,” a Crime Branch officer said.
Mr. Ansari has been charged under the Essential Commodities Act and is now being interrogated on the source of the masks.
The second raid was conducted in the Sakinaka area by Unit VII, based on a tip-off received by police constable Deepak Khare saying a large quantity of hand sanitisers was being hoarded by people who did not have valid licences.
“Accordingly, we raided Synergy Hygenic Corporation on 90 Feet Road in Saki Naka on Monday where sanitisers, manufactured by a company called Oshine, were being stored in unhygienic conditions in large quantities,” a Unit VII officer said.
The police seized 1,362 bottles of 500 ml capacity and 360 cans of five litre capacity from the spot, collectively worth ₹22.13 lakh. The raid was conducted in the presence of Food and Drugs Administration officials. The police have arrested one Dilip Chamaria (32).
