Hyderabad: Suspected spurious drugs worth Rs. 20.52 lakh seized

A total of forty varieties of medicines including higher generation antibiotics, paediatric syrups, anti ulcer drugs, analgesic drugs, antibiotic injections, antimalaria drugs etc. were found in the godown during the raid.

Hyderabad: The Drugs Control Administration (DCA), Telangana conducted raids on Thursday and Friday at an unlicensed godown in Amberpet and seized stocks of medicines worth Rs. 20.52 lakh, which are suspected to be spurious/counterfeit and were meant for illegal sale supply to government hospitals.

The DCA drug inspectors raided the godown located near Ali Cafe, Azad Nagar, Amberpet, being operated by Md. Basheer Ahmed without any drug licence and was allegedly carrying out illegal sale of medicines, and seized several cardboard shipper cartons containing huge quantity of medicines.

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A total of forty varieties of medicines including higher generation antibiotics, paediatric syrups, anti ulcer drugs, analgesic drugs, antibiotic injections, antimalaria drugs etc. were found in the godown during the raid.

According to DCA, the labels of most of the medicines seized in the godown bear the name of ‘Ashley Pharmatech Pvt. Ltd.’, Khasra No. 24, Farm House No. 103, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi-110070 as ‘marketer’ and bear the details of various manufacturers of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Huge stocks of ‘Telangana Government Supply Drugs’ including ‘Amoxycillin Capsules IP 500 mg’ manufactured by Goa Antibiotics and Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Pernem, Goa and ‘Azithromycin Tablets IP 500 mg’ manufactured by Stride Organics Pvt. Ltd., Ghatkesar, Medchal Dist were seized.

During the raid, Md. Basheer Ahmed failed to disclose the ‘source of supply’ of the medicine stocks found and could not produce the purchase bills regarding the medicine stocks. He revealed that he is supplying the medicines to several medical shops in the State without any sale bills. The stocks of medicines, which are suspected to be spurious/counterfeit, have been seized by the officers during the raid.

V. Ajay, Drugs Inspector, Goshamahal, Joint Director, G. Ramdhan, Assistant Directors T. Rajamouli, D. Saritha, Drugs Inspectors B. Lakshminarayana, V. Ajay, Ch. Karthik Siva Chaitanya, J. Nagaraju, A. Rashmi were involved in the raids.

The DCA, Telangana has been constantly on the vigil and alert to detect unlicensed stocking and illegal sale of medicines. ‘Government Supply Drugs’ are meant for distribution to Government Hospitals only and are not to be stocked and sold by any other entity. Stocking of drugs, ‘Government Supply Drugs’ without a drug licence is punishable under Drugs and Cosmetics Act with an imprisonment up to five years, Director, DCA, V B Kamalasan Reddy added.