Fake medicines seized in Baddi, 3 detained

Solan, November 22

A team of the Drugs Control Administration (DCA) seized counterfeit medicines of leading brands from a car bearing an Uttar Pradesh registration number near a toll barrier at Baddi today.

Warehouse raided

• Seized drugs manufactured under the name of leading brands
• Seizure led officials to a Baddi warehouse, where drugs were stocked
• Drugs manufactured at a Barotiwala unit, a non-licensed premises

Loose strips of Zerodol TH 4 manufactured under the name of Ipca Laboratories Ltd, Sikkim; Rosuvastatin tablets (USV Pvt Ltd, Baddi); and Montair-10 (Cipla, Sikkim) were seized. State Drugs Controller Navneet Marwaha said the drugs were seized following a tip-off. Three car occupants have been detained by the DCA.

Marwaha said officials of the three companies, which have been associated with an ongoing investigation, claimed the seized drugs were not manufactured by their firms. An official of USV Pvt Ltd claimed the batch number on the seized drugs was the same as that on the drugs manufactured by the company a few months ago.

The seized drugs were traced to a warehouse near a Baddi hotel, which was subsequently raided by officials. The warehouse was taken on rent about six months ago and the rent was being paid in cash, as per the preliminary probe by officials.

A huge cache of drugs were also seized from the warehouse.

The seized drugs were manufactured at a unit in Barotiwala, which is not a licensed drug manufacturing premises.

The officials further said spurious drugs manufactured in Baddi had been smuggled into Uttar Pradesh and were sold at several places, including a pharmacy in Agra owned by one of the detained persons.

Drug inspectors said officials were investigating as to where else the spurious drugs were sold besides UP.

This was the third drug seizure in recent months in the industrial cluster of Baddi and Barotiwala. In all three incidents, the spurious drugs were manufactured at non-licensed units.