Gujarat Food and Drug Administration (FDCA) is planning to cancel licenses of two Ahmedabad based wholesalers SR Enterprises and Shraddha Healthcare for marketing spurious drugs as a part of huge inter-state drug racket spanning Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra following state regulator’s seizure of antibiotics worth over Rs. 51 Lakh in Ahmedabad alone.  

At the time of seizure, FIRs were filed against two Ahmedabad based wholesalers on December 20 as a part of the crackdown led by Commissioner FDCA Dr H G Koshia.
 
Dr H G Koshia explained, “Baroda based drug testing lab has come out with results that antibiotics were grossly spurious with no active ingredients. Following this the Madhya Pradesh state drug regulator informed that the products were supplied through a Delhi based trader - Shakti Traders with invoice being raised by a drug dealer in Gwalior.”

He added that a racket of this magnitude has been detected for the first time in Gujarat and the state regulator is in constant touch with drug controllers of other states to nab the master mind of the racket and follow other vital leads in the case.  

Based on a tip-off that these drugs have been supplied in a clandestine manner to Ahmedabad and other areas, Gujarat FDCA officials laid a trap and detected 8 products giving negative results through hand held near infra-red machine and Raman spectroscopy machine.

The seized products claimed to be antibiotics like cefixime, azithromycin and ofloxacin were priced at over Rs. 200 for each strip of 10 tablets.

A similar kind of racket spanning across Gujarat and Delhi was also unearthed by Maharashtra FDA team two years ago. Drugs worth over Rs. 3 lakh were confiscated during the raid. The accused were found contravening the provisions of the law under different sections of Essential Commodities (EC) Act and Drugs and Cosmetics Act (D&C Act).

According to official sources, Maharashtra FDA officials laid trap on the three accused people engaged in procuring and peddling the pills in Mumbai on a tip off. The racket was run by a licenced stockist based in Mumbai.

Over 400 strips of non-surgical abortion medication were confiscated from the Mumbai based dealer and two medical representatives who supplied him the pills. Mumbai based stockist had been violating the law of the land by illegally procuring, stocking and selling the drug to unauthorised people.