Following a complaint, the officers of the Drugs Control Directorate of Tamil Nadu has conducted a raid in a pharma stockist's office and godown at Perungudi in Chennai and seized Rs 10 lakh worth imported diagnostic kits meant for distribution in several parts of the state.

The Perungudi zonal office of the department has received complaints about the importer-cum-stockist that he is engaged in illegal sale and distribution of diagnostic devices.

According to M Bhaskaran, the director of drugs control department, the stockist had no proper license for stocking this particular item and was distributing the kits to retailers for long. He said the stockist is mainly an importer of various pharma products in the state for which he has a separate license.

The seized diagnostic kits contained HIV 1/2/0 rapid diagnostic device, HCV rapid diagnostic device and HBS AG rapid diagnostic device. The inspection team has seized 12 cotton boxes of diagnostic kits from the godown. The officers have produced the seized products before the chief judicial magistrate court in Chengalpattu. More investigations are going on, according to sources from the department.

Within the last thirty days, the drug control department has initiated many raids and seizures of illegal products in various parts of the state.

Two weeks ago, a group of drug inspectors of the offices of the assistant director of drugs control, zone 1 and 2 in Chennai had seized six items of bulk drugs worth Rs 70,000 in a raid carried out at an unlicensed office and an attached godown of a chemical dealer company on Nyniappa Naickan Street in Chennai. The company had stocked Folic Acid B.P and Quinine Hydrochloride BP for sale without valid license in Form 20 B and 21 B.

Just before that raid, the controlling officers of Madurai and Viridhunagar zones had seized Rs 45,000 worth drug absorbent gauze from one Jeyamuthu Textiles, an unlicensed manufacturer in Madurai. The confiscated items included 300 Packets of surgical gauze cloth, 48 cut pieces of bleached gauze cloth kept ready for packing, polythene covers and labels of other companies.