Rs 7.35-crore spurious drugs seized as racket with Odisha link busted in UP: officials

Based on his confession, a godown under the Lahartara police station near Varanasi was raided on Thursday, leading to the seizure of a huge quantity of spurious drugs worth around Rs 7.35 crore, officials said.

The raids helped to bust one of the biggest spurious drug rackets in the recent past, said a statement issued by the health department.

In mid-February, the government sought help from the Uttar Pradesh government to detect an interstate spurious drug racket after its links were found in Varanasi. It formed an interstate investigation team, and health secretary Shalini Pandit spoke to her Uttar Pradesh counterpart.

On January 17, the government booked a chemist shop owner in Bargarh and three suppliers in Varanasi for supplying spurious drugs. A day later, another complaint was filed against another drugstore owner in Jharsuguda and the two suppliers in Varanasi.

After suspicious medicines were seized from places such as Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh, Bargarh and Sambalpur during regular checks by the drug control administration, the health secretary had directed officials to intensify vigilance.