HYDERABAD: The Drugs Control Administration (DCA) busted a spurious antibiotics racket that involved shipping fake antibiotics drugs to Telangana via courier services from Uttar Pradesh.
The DCA seized 51,000 fake tablets worth Rs 22.95 lakh during raids at Uppal and Dilsukhnagar on Wednesday. The spurious antibiotics were identified as fake combination tablets of cefpodoxime proxetil, potassium clavulanate and lactic acid bacillus, under the brand name ‘Cefoxim-CV.’
During the raids, DCA officials apprehended the receiver, Puvvada Lakshman, a habitual offender. Upon interrogation, he revealed the names of his accomplices — Pokkala Ramesh and Garapalli Purnachander of Saidabad — who are also involved in the racket. Lakshman also confessed to supplying the fake antibiotics to certain pharmacies across the state.
Later, the DCA found out that the seized spurious drugs were manufactured by a non-existent company — ‘Meg Lifesciences’ — supposedly based in Himachal Pradesh. The fake antibiotics were stocked in five cartons and addressed to Lakshman, who is also an accused in a racket busted by the DCA on December 29. On December 30, a special DCA team identified the receipt of five cartons being delivered from Ghaziabad to Trackon Couriers in Uppal.
They found the delivery was intended for Lakshman. Officials then tracked the delivery boy carrying the consignment to Lakshman who was operating out of an unlicensed godown under the name of Sri Venkateswara Enterprises in Dilsukhnagar. The DCA have lifted samples of the drug for an analysis.