Delhi police crack down on fake cancer drug racket, seven arrested
New Delhi: In a groundbreaking operation, the Delhi Police's crime branch has cracked down on a sprawling racket involved in the manufacturing and selling of counterfeit cancer and chemotherapy drugs.
The operation led to the arrest of seven individuals who were found guilty of playing with people's lives by providing fake medications devoid of any active ingredients.
According to Special Commissioner (Crime) Shalini Singh, the police seized spurious medicines bearing labels from seven international and two Indian brands, valued at a staggering Rs 4 crore. Alongside the medications, police confiscated empty vials, packaging materials, and machinery from the accused, shedding light on the intricate workings of the illicit operation.
"Two of the accused work in a hospital. Their duty was to dispose of empty vials after the cancer medicine was used, but they sold these to associates who then refilled these and supplied for sale," the special CP told TOI.
The associates refilled them with random and inexpensive medicines. These counterfeit drugs were then sold at exorbitant prices, ranging from Rs 1 to 3 lakh per vial, depending on the brand.
Police suspect that the syndicate targeted over 200 cancer patients, and efforts are underway to trace and record their statements. Many victims expressed distress and hopelessness upon discovering they had been administered spurious drugs. "It will take time for them to settle down; their statements will be recorded," stated an officer.
To gather further evidence, the mobile phones of the accused have been sent for forensic testing to retrieve deleted communications and files. The officer suspect that the gang maintained client records on their phones due to the absence of any physical registers.
"With the money they earned, they purchased apartments and shops worth crores, and invested in various places," a police officer said.
The Police have discovered that the network spread across several states, including Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. Police teams are conducting raids across various locations to apprehend additional suspects involved in the racket.
The breakthrough arrests were the culmination of weeks of surveillance and intelligence gathering by a team led by DCP Amit Goel. Simultaneous raids were conducted at four locations in Delhi-NCR, including DLF Capital Greens in Moti Nagar, South City in Gurgaon, Yamuna Vihar, and a prominent cancer hospital in the city.
"During the first raid, 140 filled vials of spurious cancer injections of Opdyta, Keytruda, Dextrose, Fluconazole brands worth approximately Rs 1.75 crore were seized. Rs 50,000, $1000, three cap-sealing machines, a heat gun machine and 197 empty vials and other packaging material were found," an officer told the daily.
In the second raid in a flat in South City, Gurgaon, where the suspects had piled up a large cache of fake cancer vials and injections. "137 vials of spurious cancer injections viz Keytruda, Infinzi, Tecentriq, Perjeta, Opdyta, Darzalex and Erbitux worth Rs 2.15 crore and 519 empty vials of Keytruda, Infinzi, Tecentriq, Perjeta, Opdyta, Darzalex and Phesgo and 864 empty packaging boxes of vials of spurious cancer vials were recovered," the officer added.
Some suspects were held in the third raid conducted at Yamuna Vihar. Two were arrested from last raid at a cancer hospital in the city.
The arrested individuals have been identified as Viphil Jain, Suraj Shat, Neeraj Chauhan, Parvez, Komal Tiwari, Abhinay Kohli, and Tushar Chauhan.
Read also: Consignment of spurious drugs worth Rs 43 lakh seized, 2 held
