Doc, 2 others, held for illicit Covid drug trade

THE POLICE SAID THAT THEY HAVE RECOVERED THREE VIALS OF THE ANTIVIRAL DRUG FROM THEM

NOIDA: Three people, including a Delhi-based doctor, were arrested by Noida police on Thursday for allegedly blackmarketing remdesivir injections.

Police said they have recovered three vials of the antiviral drug, used in the treatment of Covid-19, from them.

The suspects were identified as Dr Ishrat Imam, an East Delhi resident, and Ghaziabad residents Mujirbur Rehman and Hamza.

According to the police,

Imam is a doctor with a Delhi hospital and consulted for a few other facilities in the NCR, while Rehman allegedly ran a money transfer centre in Ghaziabad and Hamza worked at a pharmacy.

Police said they received a tip-off from an informant, following which the matter was investigated.

Police said the suspects nabbed from near a hospital in Sector 35 in a joint operation of the Sector 24 police and the Noida crime branch.

“The doctor had come in contact with the others through a relative. They would procure the injections for as low as ₹800 a vial, on the pretext of hospital requirement, and would sell them to people in need for as high as ₹35,000, and share the profits among them,” said deputy commissioner of police (crime) Abhishek Singh.

The DCP said the suspects had sold at least 12 injections so far, while investigation is on to ascertain more details.

Police recovered three vials of remdesivir, three phones and a car from the possession of the suspects.

They were booked at the Sector 24 police station for cheating (section 420) of the Indian Penal Code, relevant sections of Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940, Epidemic Act 1897 and National Disaster Management Act 2005.

Noida police on Wednesday had formed a special task force under Singh to look into the hoarding and black marketing of medicines used to treat Covid patients and oxygen, amid a very high demand in the district for these due to the due to the severe spike in cases.

Earlier, in two separate incidents, two people were nabbed for black marketing of oxygen cylinders in Noida’s sectors 9 and 5 on April 24 and April 28, respectively. Similarly, a man was nabbed in Noida on April 20 with 105 vials of the remdesivir injections, while four people were nabbed in Greater Noida with two vials of the medicine for allegedly selling them at inflated prices.