PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE / Rudrapur /Dehradun
A joint team of the Special Task Force (STF) and the Food Safety and Drugs Administration (FDA) busted an illegal factory that was allegedly manufacturing spurious allopathic medicines in Bazpur, Udham Singh Nagar. More than one lakh tablets and 15,000 syrup bottles were seized while one person was arrested during the raid on Sunday. The police have started a search for other people linked to the racket.
The raid was carried out at Kovil Biotech in the Bazpur Industrial Area with the help of the local police and the Excise department. The arrested accused has been identified as Dhirendra, a resident of Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh.
The STF senior superintendent of police Ajai Singh said that the accused was allegedly making and packing spurious medicines without a valid drug manufacturing licence by misusing Ayurvedic and food licences. The medicines were reportedly sold under the names of well-known pharmaceutical companies.
Singh said the accused led the team to a warehouse on NH-74, where officials recovered a huge stock of spurious medicines, packaging material and illegal Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL). The accused allegedly confessed to procuring liquor illegally from Haryana and supplying it in Uttarakhand with the help of associates. The STF seized over one lakh tablets and more than 15,000 syrup bottles of medicines commonly used for treating acidity, bacterial infections, pain and inflammation, neuropathic pain, prostate-related ailments, calcium and vitamin deficiencies, and iron deficiency.
The raid also led to the recovery of 2,648 IMFL bottles, 1,000 empty liquor bottles, Excise holograms, bottle caps, wrappers and other packaging material. Investigators further seized stainless steel tanks, filling machines, sealing machines, labelling machines and other equipment allegedly used in the illegal manufacturing and packaging of the spurious medicines.
An FIR has been registered at Bazpur police station under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Uttarakhand Excise Act. The STF said the investigation is continuing to identify and arrest other members of the network involved in the fake medicine and illegal liquor racket.
