In a first-of-its-kind joint operation, the Drugs Control Administration (DCA), the Hyderabad Police Commissioner’s Task Force and the Malakpet police busted a drug manufacturing unit in Uttarakhand that was allegedly making spurious and counterfeit drugs.
The searches were carried out at ‘Nectar Herbs and Drugs’ in Kotdwar, a city in Uttarakhand, said Director-General of DCA V.B. Kamalassan Reddy. “The inter-state operation, named ‘Operation JAI’, led to the discovery of the manufacturing unit, which was distributing spurious drugs to several states, including Telangana,” said the officials.
How it all began
On February 27, police searched a place in Malakpet and seized 27,200 capsules falsely labelled as an antibiotic named ‘MPOD-200’. Tablets labelled as Cefpodoxime Proxetil and Lacto Bacillus and with a face value of ₹7.34 lakh were also found. They were shown to have been manufactured by ‘Meg Lifesciences’ at Khasra Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmour. This, however, was found to be a fictitious company. “We arrested a person named Aravapalli Satyanarayana, who was caught selling the drug stocks to a person named Vangari Naveen near Moosarambagh crossroads,” said the official.
On inquiry, Mr. Satyanarayana said he had purchased the spurious drugs from Gandla Ramulu of Meerpet, who was also arrested.
During interrogation, Mr. Ramulu said the spurious drugs were received from Vishad Kumar of Kotdwar, Uttarakhand. “He further disclosed that Mr. Vishad manufactures spurious drugs at his company called ‘Nectar Herbs and Drugs’ in Uttarakhand, along with Sachin Kumar. Mr. Ramulu also admitted to placing orders for spurious drugs with Mr. Sachin and Mr. Vishad through WhatsApp calls,” added the official.
Raids in Uttarakhand
Based on the information, a search was carried out in Uttarakhand with the help of local authorities to trace the manufacturing location of the spurious drugs.
Police teams kept the facility located at Sigaddi in Kotdwar under surveillance and a surprise search was conducted on February 29. The D-G said they seized counterfeit Omnicef-O 200 (Cefixime Tablets IP 200 mg) with the labelling falsely claiming the manufacturer as Aristo Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd. “Mr. Sachin, who was nabbed from the place, said they were manufacturing counterfeit drugs of reputable pharma companies,” the D-G added.
Both Mr. Sachin and Mr. Vishad, the prime accused in the spurious drug manufacturing case, were apprehended by the special teams.
Seizure
Overall, the officers seized 38,350 tablets (3,835 strips) of counterfeit ‘Omnicef-O 200’, 60.27 kg of unnamed orange tablets, 65.27 kg of unnamed white tablets,33.45 kg of branded cartons. The face value of the stock seized during the search at ‘Nectar Herbs and Drugs’ in Uttarakhand was ₹44.33 lakh.
