Anti-cancer medicines, blood thinners worth ₹15 lakh seized from Nigerian in Greater Noida

The Gautam Budh Nagar district drugs control department seized anti-cancer medicines and blood thinners from a Nigerian national in Greater Noida

The Gautam Budh Nagar district drugs control department seized anti-cancer medicines and blood thinners from a Nigerian national in Greater Noida on Wednesday, officials said on Thursday.

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Drugs control department officials said the medicines had been procured from Delhi and were meant for being sent to Nigeria.

Drug Inspector Vaibhav Babbar said the seizure included over 1,000 ampules of 20 different types of drugs, including anti-cancer medicines and blood thinning injections, with over 1,000 ampules recovered by the officials.

“The seizure was made on Wednesday from the Nigerian national who claimed to have got a prescription for these medicines. The bills he had with him showed that these drugs were purchased from Bhagirath Palace in Delhi. The samples of these drugs have been taken for testing to confirm if they have been adulterated, and the medical bills are being verified by the department,” said Babbar.

The drug inspector informed the local police, who carried out further inquiry regarding the Nigerian national’s travel documents.

“The suspect came to India in 2021 on a student visa and has been studying at a private university in Greater Noida. He is a resident of Sector Gamma 1. However, the stock of medicines was recovered from his friend’s house in Cassa Grand society in Sector Chi V, Greater Noida. There has been no arrest or police FIR in the case and any legal action will be taken only after a report of the drug test is received from the drugs control department,” said Vinod Mishra, in-charge of Beta 2 police station.

Babbar added that the prescription shown by the Nigerian seemed suspicious as they were in an unusually large quantity.

“The bills were in the name of different people and of different dates, across the months of July and August. However, the quantities of the drugs purchased was higher than prescribed. For example, if a patient required two injections, 200 injections were purchased. Similarly, if four tablets were needed, four hundred tablets were bought,” the officer said.

He added that the whole stock of medicines was not bought at once. “During inquiry, the Nigerian national revealed that the medicines were being brought from Delhi to his residence by the seller himself. He has also informed officials that he was tasked with providing the drugs stock to another Nigerian national who was set to for his country soon. We suspect that these drugs were meant for sale in Nigeria. The seizure was made to verify the legality of the export process and the quality of drugs,” said the drug inspector.

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