The Delhi Police on Monday arrested a 39-year-old MBBS doctor from Faridabad for allegedly running a racket involved in smuggling and distributing counterfeit and unapproved anti-cancer medicines in Delhi-NCR, an officer said on Wednesday.
The accused allegedly sold the medicines through a firm registered in his name and listed them on a B2B portal.
The racket came to light on April 21, when police received information about the supply of fake anti-cancer and life-saving drugs to clinics in Delhi.
Police said a doctor first spotted the suspect while looking for a Leukaemia medicine.
“We found that the accused was importing counterfeit medicines from Turkey. The medicines are only manufactured in Japan and the US,” said DCP (Crime Branch) Harsh Indora.
Acting on the information, a team led by inspector Pawan Kumar laid a trap near a Mother Dairy booth in Sukhdev Vihar on Monday, and the accused was caught red-handed.
The seized stock included both counterfeit medicines and those not permitted for sale in India.
One of the seized boxes was of a counterfeit US-made drug priced around ₹17 lakh. It is prescribed to treat advanced leukaemia.
{{/usCountry}}One of the seized boxes was of a counterfeit US-made drug priced around ₹17 lakh. It is prescribed to treat advanced leukaemia.
{{/usCountry}}The seizure included four vials of a Turkish-origin counterfeit drug smuggled into India. Two boxes of a fake drug used in the treatment of multiple myeloma, also from Turkey, were seized. Each box is priced around ₹2.27 lakh, police said.
“The drugs are manufactured in Japan and the US, and their counterfeit was produced in Turkey. A well-organised network was dealing in counterfeit, smuggled and unapproved medicines. We are examining the entire supply chain, including the persons to whom they were supplied,” the DCP said.
Police said the accused obtained an MBBS degree from a Russian university but allegedly failed to clear the mandatory examination for practise in India.
He allegedly worked at a hospital in Faridabad, later opened a clinic in Jawahar Colony and another in Sohna, Haryana, where he engaged freelance doctors. Both clinics fell into financial crisis and were forced to shut down.
He later opened a polyclinic in Faridabad with his wife, registered a pharmaceutical business at the same address, and started listing medicines on the B2B portal.
Police suspect he duped customers who approached him online.