The Telangana State Drug Control Administration (TSDCA) is planning to increase its vigil and is focussing on dairy milk centre owners to put a tab on oxytocin smugglers in the state.

With the recent incident coming to light that smugglers are illegally supplying banned oxytocin drug to dairy milk centres and vegetable farmers, the drug control administration in the state has increased its vigil and is laying trap to arrest the culprits at the earliest.

As allegations are on the rise against the DCA that even after laying trap for the last three months, the drug control officials have failed in nabbing the real culprits, the DCA has taken a serious view of this and is planning to focus on the dairy milk centre owners to get hold of the smugglers.

A senior drug control officer informed that a gang travelling to the northern states is smuggling the oxytocin vials in to the state and distributing them to dairy farm owners and farmers in the rural areas. The gang was being followed regularly but when it came to catching the culprit, only one individual named Mohammed Nazir was nabbed in a recent raid. The authorities have seized 100 vials of 30ml oxytocin drug from the culprit.

“We have been watching this group since past 3 months, and arrested one person with oxytocin vials. We are hunting for the other gang members who have gone underground. For trapping them we are planning to lay trap around dairy milk centres and increase our vigil to nab them at the earliest,” informed Amruth Rao, head of TSDCA.

According to officials, the smugglers are from Bihar and their network is widespread. “The illegal selling of the banned drug is going on clandestinely in the state. As chemists are not allowed to stock oxytocin, these people have built their own network to sell this drug in the state,” informed an official.

When asked, why don’t they track the manufacturers to contain this menace, the officials informed that there is no label on the vials. Because of which they are not able to track the manufacturers. “The only way to track these smugglers is to put a focused vigil on the dairy centre owners as they have developed a direct link with the smugglers,” informed the official.

Oxytocin injection is given to cows and buffaloes to increase milk production. This milk affects eyesight, leads to fatigue, hormonal changes and also causes cancer.