E-Paper
5 arrested for illegal sale of Covid drugs
The anti-extortion cell (AEC) of Thane Police arrested five people from Naupada for illegally selling remdesivir and tocilizumab injections, which are used for Covid-19
The anti-extortion cell (AEC) of Thane Police arrested five people from Naupada for illegally selling remdesivir and tocilizumab injections, which are used for Covid-19 treatment, for ₹25,000 to ₹50,000. Two of the accused worked as medical representatives for a private firm.
AEC officers received their contact numbers from an informant, following which they set up a trap. One officer posed as a dummy buyer and got two accused to come to deliver a vial of injection for ₹25,000 and nabbed them.
Senior police inspector R Kothmire said, “A pharmaceutical distributor based in Wadala, Pradip Jain, is the distributor. He is yet to be arrested. He sold it to the prime accused, Amitab Das, 39, for ₹11,000. Das then sold it to Arun Singh, 35, and Sudhakar Giri, 37, who are medical representatives, for ₹17 thousand. These two finalised deal with our dummy officer for ₹25 thousand per injection. Later, they sent the other two accused Ravindra Shinde, 35, and Wasim Shaikh, 32, to deliver the medicine at Naupada.”
Police arrested Das, Singh, Giri, Shinde and Shaikh. They have also seized the vehicle they were using to deliver the injections.
AEC officers further said, “Apart from remdesivir and tocilizumab injections, they have abortion kits and pills which are banned in India. Some cancer-related medicines were also found. The Food and Drug Administration will join the investigation.”
