Gurugram fake Mounjaro racket traces China link, online sales network

Peptides sourced via Alibaba, injections assembled in flat and sold on IndiaMART; FDA finds no licence, samples sent for testing, accused on remand.

Four days after the Haryana Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Gurugram police busted a ₹70 lakh counterfeit Mounjaro injection racket, investigators have uncovered a wider organised network involving Chinese raw material sourcing, local manufacturing and online distribution, officials said.

The seized fake Mounjaro injections. (HT)

The prime suspect allegedly sourced key raw materials, including peptides, from China through the online platform Alibaba.com in March, police said. Officers said invoices are yet to be formally verified, but shipments worth nearly ₹1.5 lakh were procured from a Chinese company named “Yengli”. A smaller trial order of around $500 was followed by a larger consignment worth nearly $5,000, all within the last two months, they added.

Investigators said the racket had a structured supply chain. Around 2,000 vials of bacteriostatic water were purchased in bulk and packaged in nearly 200 boxes, while labels and packaging material were printed locally in Gurugram at an estimated cost of ₹70,000 to mimic authentic products.

“The accused had set up a makeshift manufacturing unit inside a residential apartment in Sector 62 and used basic equipment to assemble the injections,” said Amandeep Chauhan, drug control officer of the FDA Haryana’s Gurugram wing. “Samples have been collected and sent for laboratory testing to determine composition and safety.”

According to police, the prime accused, a 31-year-old BBA dropout residing in Sohna, had earlier sold Ayurvedic pain oils before entering the pharmaceutical grey market. His total investment in the operation is estimated at ₹2.5 lakh.

The counterfeit injections were sold through online platforms such as IndiaMART, with prices ranging between ₹13,000 and ₹27,000, officers said, citing high demand for weight-loss drugs.

The case came to light on Saturday when FDA and police teams intercepted a private vehicle in DLF Phase IV carrying suspected fake injections sourced from Delhi’s Bhagirath Market. Two men, including the prime accused’s associate were arrested, police said.

Subsequent raids at the prime accused’s residence led to the recovery of manufacturing equipment, raw materials and packaging supplies, with additional stock found in a car and at the apartment used as a production unit, officers said.

Chauhan said the prime accused is on five-day police remand, while his associate has been sent to judicial custody. “The suspect had no licence to manufacture or distribute such drugs. The injections appear to be counterfeit versions of products originally imported from Italy,” he said.

Authorities said the misuse of online platforms for illegal drug sales poses a major enforcement challenge due to scale and anonymity.

Alibaba.com and IndiaMART did not respond to HT’s queries till the time of publication.