As part of its ongoing drive to curb unauthorised sale of psychotropic substances, narcotic and addictive drugs, Gujarat Food and Drugs Control Administration (FDCA) raided a Bharuch-based retailer recently for illegally stocking and selling cough syrup containing highly addictive Opium based derivative named codeine phosphate manufactured by Cipla under the brand name Rexcof.

According to Dr H G Koshia, commissioner, Gujarat FDCA, "The retailer sourced large quantities of Rexcof syrup from a Junagadh based distributor and supplied the medicine illegally to unauthorised agents and customers in violation of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act) and Drugs and Cosmetics Act."

A team of drug inspectors headed by Assistant Commissioner D D Shah from the Bharuch office raided the premises and seized 2640 bottles worth Rs. 2 lakhs from Bharuch based Jaimata Di medical store. The samples have been sent for further analysis to Vadodara based drug testing lab.

The owner of the shop Mahendra Sinh Sindha has been arrested by the police on the basis of FIRs filed by the state FDA. The retailer has been arrested prima facie on the grounds of stocking medicines illegally at unauthorised location without a valid license in violation of Section 18 (C) of the Drugs and Cosmetics (D&C) Act, 1940.

Since it is a criminal offense, the retailer has also been booked under the relevant sections of IPC and the police is investigating the matter.

Dr Koshia explained that the retailer used to stock and sell medicines to alcoholics and drug addicts as the medicine is in demand as an alternative to alcohol and drug addiction. It is an opium derivative and has addictive properties if not taken in optimum quantity without a prescription. Police is investigating other aspects of the racket, which the retailer used to run primarily over phone and used to sell medicine at an exorbitant price of Rs. 75 per bottle to the customers. "Our officers made a surprise raid when we found the chemist shop Jaimata Di Medical store closed during working hours without any notice," he informed.

Gujarat FDCA has registered over 200 such cases over the past three years and found that the drive to curb such illegal practices by the chemists has yielded promising results with just around 15 such cases reported last year. With around 29,000 retailers across the state of Gujarat, Gujarat FDCA keeps a tab on the offenders by inspecting the sales premises every six months. "Certain class of drugs like MTP pills which were misused in the past came to our notice and prompted us to take stringent actions against the offending chemists at Vadodara, Mehsana and Bharuch a few months back for the sake of patient safety," Dr Koshia said.