Fake Pfizer drugs in Bengaluru? 4 held as SIT probes Rs 4.91 crore racket
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Fake Pfizer drugs in Bengaluru? 4 held as SIT probes Rs 4.91 crore racket")
Representative image. Photograph: (Magnific)
Karnataka formed a six-member SIT after fake medicines worth Rs 4.91 crore were seized in Bengaluru. Four people were held, with investigators probing an interstate network and suspected Dubai link.
Karnataka government on Thursday (Aug 20) formed a six-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe an alleged inter-state fake medicine racket uncovered in Bengaluru, with four people now held in connection with the case. The SIT will be headed by Bengaluru (West) Joint Commissioner of Police C Vamsi Krishna. The move comes a day after the Karnataka Food Safety and Drug Administration (FDA), along with the police, seized spurious medicines worth more than Rs 4.91 crore during raids in Bengaluru South.
The investigation is being expanded across the state amid concerns that the seized medicines could be part of a much larger supply network.
Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Minister UT Khader had said the operation appeared to have links beyond the state. “This appears to be a national level (operation). We will share the details with the Centre, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana states as well. We need a Special Investigation Team to probe into this since it is an inter-state racket,” he said.
Officials have so far traced the manufacture of the suspected fake medicines to Himachal Pradesh and Telangana. Investigators are also examining how the drugs entered Bengaluru and which pharmacies and hospitals may have received them.
Khader alleged that the suspected kingpin could be operating from Dubai, raising the possibility of an international link. The health department is expected to identify the establishments supplied with the medicines and determine whether patients were administered the suspected drugs over the past two years.
The seized medicines included replicas of high-end antibiotics and critical-care drugs, including Emblaveo, Zavicefta, Ceftivent, Xavitaz and Hizlam.
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According to the health department, the accused allegedly procured cheaper medicines from other states, transferred them into new vials and relabelled them to resemble costly multinational brands and imported medicines.
Authorities said the fake products contained no active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and were allegedly made using contaminated or harmful substances.
Under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, manufacturing, selling, stocking or distributing spurious drugs can attract penalties ranging from 10 years’ imprisonment to life imprisonment.
