Police in Uttar Pradesh’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.
Also read: Centre bans export of Remdesivir
The arrests come two days after the State government urgently procured 25,000 vials of Remdesivir from Gujarat due to the rise in number of cases and demand for the drug.
The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) said they recovered 265 vials of Covifor injection (Remdesivir) which the accused persons were smuggling.
The action came after intelligence inputs that since there was a shortage of Remdesivir in local markers “drug smugglers” were selling it at a much higher price, the Uttar Pradesh, 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, it said.
Aseem Arun, Kanpur Police Commissioner, 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 drug, 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.
