Last Updated on July 31, 2020 by The Health Master
AHMEDABAD: The probe into crime branch’s complaint lodged on Tuesday against Nilkanth Elixir LLP, Makarba, it has been learned that the remdesivir injections were sourced from Bangladesh without bills or import licence. A Bangladeshi national, Shabbir Ahmed, was the principal contact of the racketeers.
“Rs 82 crore was sent through one PM Angadia firm located at Amrapali Shopping Centre in Bopal,” an investigator said.
The smuggled medicine reached Ahmedabad from Bangladesh via Agartala in Tripura where the India-Bangladesh border is extremely porous.
Investigators said the medicines were smuggled in from Bangladesh in two batches. “The first consignment landed in Ahmedabad on July 7 and the second batch landed on July 12. The consignments were received by Sandeep Mathukiya from a person from Hotel Zinzer in Agartala. That man knew Ahmed in Bangladesh first-hand,” an investigator said. “The stock was brought to Ahmedabad by air,” he added.
Investigators said the racketeers had brought Ninavir 100 manufactured by Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd in Dhaka, Bangladesh. “The consignments also included Remivir 100 manufactured by Esakayef Bangladesh. All purchases were made without bills and without verification,” a crime branch official said.
Also read: 86 remdesivir vials seized from black marketers: FDA Haryana
Those who have been booked in the case until now include Vishali Goyani of Bopal, Darshan Soni of South Bopal, Shekhar Adroja of Bopal, Parth Goyani of Bopal, Sandeep Mathukiya of Vastrapur, Yashkrmar Mathukiya of Surat and Shabbir Ahmed of Bangladesh.
Following a tip-off that remdisivir was being sold in the black market in Surat, The Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA) had sent a decoy customer to whom two injections were sold without bill for Rs 36,000 by Yashkumar Mathukiya, a cousin of Sandeep Mathukiya . Mathukiya is also allegedly involved in the scam, added a crime branch source.
Crime branch investigators said they are hunting for the accused as all have gone underground after the searches conducted by the FDCA.
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