Man gets Covid-19 drug from Delhi, tries to sell it in Mumbai for ₹1 lakh, arrested

A 30-year-old man from Uttarakhand, who came to Mumbai to sell 400mg of tocilizumab injection, at more than double its market price in black market, was arrested

A 30-year-old man from Uttarakhand, who came to Mumbai to sell 400mg of tocilizumab injection, at more than double its market price in black market, was arrested by unit 9 of the city crime branch on Tuesday. The injection is used to treat Covid-19 patients suffering from low oxygen levels.

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The drug costs ₹40,000 but the man, identified as Azam Nasir Khan, was trying to sell it for ₹1 lakh, the police said. According to crime branch officers, Khan had brought the drug from Delhi .

Based on a tip-off, a team lead by assistant police inspector Sudhir Jadhav, along with officials from the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) department, sent a man posing as a medical store owner, to buy the drug from Khan.

“After negotiating the price for the drug, Khan sold 15 injections for Rs1 lakh each. When Khan came to deliver the medicine at Bandra he was arrested,” said senior police inspector Mahesh Desai of unit 9.

During inquiry, Khan confessed that he brought the medicine from Delhi to sell in Mumbai. “It appears that there are many people involved in the racket. We are probing further to find out if more people are involved in the racket, added Desai.