Now Reading: Labourer’s tip-off leads police to Rs 7,000 fake medicine racket
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Labourer’s tip-off leads police to Rs 7,000 fake medicine racket
Bengaluru: A labourer's complaint to a police constable about strange waste being dumped in a stockhouse led Ramanagara police to uncover an alleged spurious-drug racket involving repackaged medicines worth up to Rs…
Bengaluru: A labourer's complaint to a police constable about strange waste being dumped in a stockhouse led Ramanagara police to uncover an alleged spurious-drug racket involving repackaged medicines worth up to Rs 7,000 per unit, sold as Pfizer products. Police raided the premises on Tuesday, arrested four people, and identified the alleged kingpin as R Prashant, 36, a former medical representative now based in Dubai.
The investigation began when labourers at CK Tandya village near Tavarekere noticed a stockhouse being used to dump vials, tubes and foul-smelling powder. Constable Shivaraj visited in plain clothes, collected samples, and reported his findings. Police later confirmed the warehouse was neither licensed nor authorised for medicine work. Investigators say the racket sourced cheap spurious medicines from Himachal Pradesh and Telangana, and that Prashant operated with help from a pharmacist, Venkatesh. The material was relabelled and sold as expensive products.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The case is a reminder that Karnataka's pharmaceutical supply chain, unregulated at the retail and warehouse level outside major cities, remains vulnerable to counterfeiting. Spurious medicines from Himachal Pradesh and Telangana have been found in multiple seizures across southern states in recent years, with Pfizer and other MNC brands common targets for relabelling. The kingpin's presence in Dubai mirrors a pattern where organisers operate from Gulf countries while using local fronts to lease premises. With four arrests so far and the main accused abroad, the next step will be an Interpol notice or extradition request. The bigger question is how the fake stock entered the market, and whether buyer hospitals or pharmacies will face scrutiny in the weeks ahead.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
