MBBS doctor, pharmaceutical factory owner among 7 arrested for manufacturing, selling fake cancer drugs
New Delhi: Busting an international fake drug manufacturing racket, the Delhi Crime Branch on Tuesday arrested seven persons including an MBBS doctor and the owner of a pharmaceutical factory.
Special Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, RS Yadav has informed ANI that 2 engineers, a doctor and an MBA have been arrested in this connection. Three more accused persons are absconding and a search is on to nab them at the earliest, he added.
The gang which used to manufacture fake life-saving cancer drugs and supply them in India, China, Bangladesh and Nepal, was operating for the last three to four years. After busting the manufacturing factories at Sonepat in Haryana and raiding a godown in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad, police have recovered fake medicnes of around 20 international brands worth more than Rs 8 crore. Besides, huge quantity of raw materials, and machines used in the manufacturing and packaging process have also been recovered.
The three absconding persons include two doctors including one from Bangladesh. The other one is a doctor hailing from Bihar who is running the racket from Nepal. They are reportedly operating the network from Nepal and Bangladesh, adds HT.
"An international fake drug manufacturing racket was busted and 7 persons, including 2 engineers, a doctor and an MBA, were arrested. The accused were involved in manufacturing fake life-saving cancer drugs. A factory in Sonipat, Haryana and a godown in Ghaziabad were busted," Yadav said.
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"We've recovered fake medicines priced at Rs 8 crore in the market. The racket was operational for the last 3-4 years. It shifted locations at least twice, but we kept tracking them. At least 3 more persons involved in this racket are absconding and efforts are on to catch them at the earliest," the Special CP, Crime Branch said.
As per the latest media report by Hindustan Times, the arrested persons have been identified as Dr. Pradhan (34), Shubham Manna (29), Pankaj Singh Bohra (27), Ankit Sharma (26), Ram Kumar alias Harbir (43), Aekansh Verma (27), and Prabhat Kumar (45). Among these, Dr. Pradhan pursued his MBBS from China back in 2012 and later worked as a junior doctor in GTB Hospital, Super Speciality Cancer Institute and Deepchand Bandhu hospital.
The doctor has informed during interrogation that during the MBBS course, his batchmate from Bangladesh had informed him that he could provide him with the Actual Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) that is necessary for manufacturing fake cancer medicines. He also informed that some of the cancer drugs have huge demands in India and China and they are extremely expensive. Therefore, by selling these medicine, they can earn huge amount of money, the doctor has reportedly stated during interrogation.
After leaving the job at GTB, Dr. Pradhan reportedly planned with others for manufacturing and supplying fake cancer medicines. Among the arrested persons, Harbir is the owner of a pharmaceutical factory in Sonepat, where these fake drugs were manudactured. Verma and Kumar run pharma firms in Chandigarh and Delhi respectively, special commissioner of police (crime) Ravindra Yadav informed HT.
Special CP Yadav further informed the daily that the interstate crime branch had received information regarding this international fake drug racket. Later, the team came to know that the gang had been packing and storing these fake drugs at their godown in Tronica City near Ghaziabad.
"It was further learnt that Pardhan and Manna were living in a flat at Sector-43, Noida, UP and operating and managing all the operations from there. On their directions, Pankaj Bohra and Ankit Sharma used to deliver the spurious medicines at different locations in Delhi and they used to book the 'We Fast' courier for delivery of the medicines across the country," said Yadav.
Consequently, the crime branch set up separate teams for decoding and tracking the movement of these accused. During the operation, one of the teams tracked the movement of one of the alleged persons at Bhairon Mandir Road, near Pragati Maidan. The accused was reportedly carrying a bag in a scooter on November 10. After detaining this accused, the police recovered medicines from the bag. After interrogating the accused, police came to know that the recovered medicines were fake and only a leading pharmaceutical company had the proper authority for selling these medicines in India.
After this, the second team arrested the doctor and others from a Noida based flat and there around Rs 1.3 lakh and thousands of fake cancer medicines had been seized.
Referring to the interrogation of the doctor, Special CP Yadav informed HT, "Dr. Anil Jaiswal, their friend who also completed MBBS from China, also agreed to supply such spurious medicines through his contacts in India and China. Thereafter, Pradhan involved his cousin Manna and other associates and started manufacturing the spurious medicines meant for the treatment of cancer. To start with, he designed foil strips, outer packaging and got them printed from Dehradun and Noida. Capsules were taken from Verma for packing of spurious powder. They used to give capsules and foil paper to one Harbir who further procured the raw material and prepared tablets and capsules in his factory in Sonipat, Haryana as per their demand. They rented a godown in Tronica City for final packaging and supply. Pradhan and Manna constituted a supply chain through Dr. Anil, Aekansh and Prabhat."
"The arrested men were making profit out of the illness and misery of cancer patients, selling them false hopes by providing fake drugs, with no active ingredients and playing with the precious lives of innocent persons who were already suffering from life-threatening diseases like cancer. They were delivering the consignments of spurious drugs to China and Bangladesh through couriers to individuals along with medical declaration to avoid detection," said an Inspector from the crime branch, who led the entire operation.
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