Fake drug unit busted in Bhopal, owner held

BHOPAL - A fake drug unit was busted in Bhopal and its owner arrested, police said Wednesday.

Acting on a tip-off, police raided a house in the outskirts of the city late Tuesday and unearthed a medicine manufacturing unit where a syrup was being made on a large scale, without permission or proper documents.

“The owner of the unit Anil Agarwal has been charged and booked for fraud. Some workers who were bottling the same liquid using wrappers of different medicine companies have also been arrested,” senior police official R.S. Misra told IANS.

“Initially, Agarwal told the police that he had the licence of Secunderabad-based Angel Healthcare Company but he was taken into custody as he was not able to produce any documents in this regard. Subsequently, the police seized over 1,000 bottles of health tonics of different companies in which the same liquid was being filled,” Misra added.

“Besides, over 10,000 empty bottles of 200 ml size and hundreds of wrappers were also recovered,” he said.

Station House Officer (SHO) G.L. Ahirwal said a single machine was installed inside the house and the syrup ‘Anfer 12′ was being packed in different bottles that bore separate names.

Police said the syrup’s samples would be tested to ascertain whether it contains any medicine or was a mere concoction that could adversely affect the health of patients. Police were also investigating whether more drugs were being manufactured in the unit. The names of suppliers who were getting the syrup from the unit were being ascertained.

The raid was jointly conducted by the officials of Controller, Food and Drugs Administration and the city police.