India, Aug. 21 -- Seventeen people have been arrested and hundreds of vials of life-saving drugs recovered by the Delhi Police's Crime Branch, busting an alleged multi-state racket involving counterfeit and illegally diverted anti-cancer medicines worth around Rs 9 crore, an officer said on Thursday. A team of the Crime Branch recovered 588 filled anti-cancer vials, six empty vials, seven empty medicine boxes, 3,021 units of other medicines and around Rs 50 lakh in cash, he said. The recovered medicines include Darzalex, Imfinzi, Erbitux, Opdyta, Gazyva, Bavencio, Adcetris and Keytruda, which are predominantly used in the treatment of various types of cancers. Also Read - MPD-2047: A blueprint for change Advertisement "The syndicate had supply links across Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and other locations," the police officer said. The officer said the probe began on June 22 after the team received secret inputs about the racket. Verification identified suspicious premises in East Delhi, Rohini and Mumbai. Seven teams conducted simultaneous raids on July 11 in Delhi and Navi Mumbai in coordination with the drugs department and local police. Subsequent interrogation, disclosures and searches led to the arrests of 17 accused, the officer said. Police said the syndicate obtained medicines through three channels -- counterfeit drugs bought from unauthorised sources, medicines allegedly misappropriated from hospitals meant for cancer patients, and government-supplied medicines diverted from government institutions and warehouses. Also Read - Delhi launches major MSME capacity drive "The medicines were allegedly procured without valid invoices, purchase records, drug licences or other lawful documents and stored at residential and other premises before being distributed through intermediaries," the officer said. Original cartons and empty boxes were retained for repackaging, while batch numbers, MRP details and other identifying marks were allegedly removed using chemicals such as acetone. Thermocol boxes, bubble rolls, adhesive tape and polythene were used to prepare consignments. Registers and diaries recording medicine and cash transactions were also recovered, he said. Also Read - Post-I-Day sweep at Red Fort The arrested accused include Abhishek Vaishya (26), and brothers Shubham Kumar Chaudhary (25), and Suraj Chaudhary (22), all from Laxmi Nagar. Vaishya, educated up to class 12, allegedly procured and supplied the medicines since 2022. Registers, devices, packaging material, medicines and Rs 4 lakh were recovered from him, police said. Shubham was allegedly involved since 2023 and Rs 23 lakh was recovered from him, while Suraj allegedly joined the trade with him in 2024. Gagan (28), of Indirapuram, a wholesale medicine trader, allegedly sourced injections from Satish Kumar, (30), of Govindpuri, a former medical store salesperson, and supplied them to Vaishya. Mukesh (30), of Gurugram, who had worked at a relative's medical store, allegedly had been procuring drugs from hospitals since 2023. Police recovered anti-cancer vials, medicines, packaging material, Rs 23 lakh, electronic devices and documents from the accused.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.