Fake Antibiotic Drugs, Abortion-inducing Medicines Worth Rs 40 Lakh Seized in Gujarat

Fake antibiotic drugs and medicines used to induce abortion worth nearly Rs 40 lakh have been seized from two different locations in Gujarat’s Sabarkantha district, an official said Friday.

Two persons have been detained for questioning, he said. Based on a tip-off, officials of the Gujarat Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA) raided a medical shop in the Girdharnagar area of Himmatnagar on Thursday and seized a large quantity of fake antibiotic drugs, said a release by FDCA Commissioner HG Koshia.

The seizure included fake antibiotic medicines, claiming to contain components like cefixime, azithromycin and bacillus, worth Rs 25 lakh, said Koshia. These actual antibiotics are used for the treatment of serious diseases. The name of the manufacturer mentioned on the medicines was Meg Life Sciences, Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh’.

When officials contacted Himachal Pradesh’s drug controller, it was revealed that no such company exists. When the shop owner Harsh Thakkar could not produce any sale or purchase bills for these medicines, it was established that these drugs were fake, said the release.

While four samples of seized medicines were sent to a Vadodara-based laboratory for analysis, Thakkar is being questioned to find out the source of these fake medicines, said officials. Later during the day, the FDCA team raided a house near Himmatnagar town hall and seized abortifacient (abortion-inducing drugs), and other medicines worth Rs 12.74 lakh.

It was revealed that the owner of Swaminarayan Medical Agency, Dhaval Patel, had stored these medicines for illegal sale at his residence without acquiring any permission from the authorities.

FDCA said it will initiate court proceedings as per the law against Thakkar and Patel after receipt of the laboratory results. Both are now being questioned to find out from whom they used to acquire these medicines and to whom they were selling them, said the release.

The development comes days after authorities seized fake antibiotic drugs worth Rs 17.5 lakh in raids across various cities of Gujarat and detained four persons.

FDCA had said that some of these persons worked as medical representatives of benami companies and used to deliver fake medicines to doctors.