Maharashtra: 3 lakh N95 masks seized from the godowns in Andheri and Bhiwandi which were to be sold in black market.
Amid the scare of the deadly coronavirus epidemic where the state is facing the shortage of masks and other essential commodities, the Maharashtra police seized masks in abundance from the godowns of Andheri and Bhiwandi which is being reported to stored for black marketing. While talking to media, Home Minister of Maharashtra revealed that 25 lakh masks including 3 lakh N95 masks valued at Rs 15 crore were seized from godowns in Andheri and Bhiwandi. The masks were stored for black marketing.
Anil Deshmukh said that 4 arrests have been made in this case so far while two accused have been absconding.
As per reports, Mumbai Crime Branch located seized face masks. Commissioner of Police, Param Bir Singh said that they received information about the stock of huge quantity of masks, which includes 2.75 lakh N95 masks stored for the purpose of Black marketing.
https://www.opindia.com/2020/03/maharashtra-n95-masks-seized-black-market-coronavirus/
Lear More
There’s No COVID-19 Cure Online: $14 Million Seized In Fake Pharma As 121 Arrested.
From counterfeit surgical masks to coronavirus ‘cures’ – criminal lowlife exploiting the pandemic are targeted by global law enforcement operation
Catherine De Bolle, the executive director of Europol, has warned the public not to buy medicines online which claim to cure COVID-19. “Not only are these medicines fake,” De Bolle said in a Twitter posting, “but dangerous too.”
The warning comes as Europol announced the success of Operation Pangea, a global law enforcement operation involving a total of 90 countries that was coordinated by INTERPOL. “Operation Pangea shows that criminals will stop at nothing to make a profit,” INTERPOL secretary general, Jürgen Stock, said.
Suspect to appear before court for smuggling illicit cigarettes.
A 31-year-old suspect is expected to appear before the Lehurutshe Magistrates’ Court today on charges of smuggling counterfeit cigarettes.
The suspect was arrested on Friday, 20 March, by police at the Kopfontein border in the North West.
Police were conducting an inspection at the port of entry when they stopped an Isuzu bakkie of a courier company for a search.
Police discovered 75 master boxes of cigarettes, with an estimated value of R1.25 million.
The driver was arrested and charged for contravening Section (180) and Section 15(1) (a) of the Customs and Excise Act, 1964.
The Acting Provincial Commissioner of the North West, Major General Ryno Naidoo, welcomed the arrest and commended the police for their vigilance.
He said the arrest and seizure will send a clear message that transnational crimes will not be tolerated and perpetrators will not be spared.
Bengaluru police bust fake hand sanitizer manufacturing racket, arrest two men.
The Central Crime Branch sleuths have seized 8,500 bottles of hand sanitisers that were being sold for exorbitant rates.S
The Bengaluru police on Friday raided godowns in the city and arrested two men for manufacturing fake hand sanitizers and hand rubs, which are currently in huge demand in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The Economic Offences Wing of the Central Crime Branch seized 8,500 bottles of hand sanitizers worth Rs 56 lakh.
According to the Karnataka Health Department, the 104 helpline had received several complaints of hand sanitizers running out of stock due to high demand and many had allegedly complained that the hand sanitizers were fake. Health Department officials say they notified the city police too. However, on Friday, the CCB sleuths received a tip off that fake sanitizers were being manufactured at godowns in the city.
Hoarding During Coronavirus: Masks, Fake Sanitisers Worth Rs 7 Lakh Seized in Maharashtra.
In a joint operation by Food and Drug Administration and the local crime branch, as many as 730 bottles of fake hand sanitisers and 18,900 masks were recovered.
New Delhi: In a crackdown against hoarding during the coronavirus outbreak, masks and adulterated hand sanitisers worth Rs 7 lakh were seized from a shop in Maharashtra’s Jalna city, police said on Friday. In a joint operation, officials of the food supply office, Food and Drug Administration and the local crime branch raided Kalpana Emporium in New Jalna on Thursday night, crime branch chief Rajendra Singh Gour said. As many as 730 bottles of fake hand sanitisers and 18,900 masks valued at Rs 7 lakh were recovered, he said. A case has been registered against shop owner Hastimal Bamb for allegedly hoarding these masks and sanitisers, he added.
Hoarding During Coronavirus: Masks, Fake Sanitisers Worth Rs 7 Lakh Seized in Maharashtra.
In a joint operation by Food and Drug Administration and the local crime branch, as many as 730 bottles of fake hand sanitisers and 18,900 masks were recovered.
New Delhi: In a crackdown against hoarding during the coronavirus outbreak, masks and adulterated hand sanitisers worth Rs 7 lakh were seized from a shop in Maharashtra’s Jalna city, police said on Friday.
In a joint operation, officials of the food supply office, Food and Drug Administration and the local crime branch raided Kalpana Emporium in New Jalna on Thursday night, crime branch chief Rajendra Singh Gour said.
As many as 730 bottles of fake hand sanitisers and 18,900 masks valued at Rs 7 lakh were recovered, he said.
A case has been registered against shop owner Hastimal Bamb for allegedly hoarding these masks and sanitisers, he added.
7 smugglers held, 9.3kg gold seized.
Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officers have arrested seven people on charges of smuggling and seized around 9.3kg of gold worth over Rs 4 crore.
The gold was smuggled from Dubai and other Middle East countries into Kerala and was being sold in Mangaluru and some districts of North Karnataka with forged foreign marking, said official sources.
Based on credible information, the DRI on March 11 intercepted two people – Syed Mohammed and Ashoka KS at the Mangaluru Central Railway Station – and recovered 5.6 kg in gold bars in crude form from their possession.
“There was specific information about a network of operatives who were bringing smuggled gold in the form of crude bars from Kozhikode to Mangaluru. The gold was remelted and cast into 100gm bars with forged foreign markings,”said the officer.“The contraband gold was being sold at various locations in Karnataka,” he added.
On interrogation of the two, the DRI arrested a third person named Manjunath Shet alias Rupesh from the parking lot of the railway station. “He was supposed to receive the smuggled gold from the passengers,” the officer added. Following his arrest, searches were conducted in three different locations in Mangaluru, Udupi, and Shivamogga.
Custom officials foil gold smuggling.
Custom officials at Surat airport have foiled an attempt to smuggle gold worth Rs 20 lakhs into the country. While screening through the passengers’ baggage, custom officials found that Ganesh Valodra, a Mumbai resident who had arrived on a Sharjah bound Air India flight, had concealed gold foils in the cover of his suitcases. Valodra has been booked for gold smuggling. Incidentally, it was the second case of gold smuggling that came into light at the Surat airport in less than a week.
Lear More
Coronavirus: Kerala to use 1.5 lakh litres of seized spirit for producing sanitisers.
KOCHI: Following the huge increase in demand for hand sanitisers and steep hike in price of its main ingredient isopropyl alcohol, the state is looking to make use of lakhs of litres of rectified spirit seized by the Excise Department in various cases.
CB Chandrababu, chairman, Kerala State Drug and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (KSDPL), which has approached the government seeking the release of around 1.5 lakh litres of spirit, said: “The seized spirit is ethanol which, as per World Health Organisation standards, can be used to make hand sanitisers.” The public sector unit is now working only on alternate days, after its Mumbai-based supplier increased the price of isopropyl alcohol.
“The supplier has increased its price from Rs 140 per litre to Rs 300. So we requested the government to release 1.5 lakh litres, but it might give us 5 lakh litres,” he said.KSDPL did not have any prior experience of making sanitisers, but it decided to start production after state government demand following the Covid 19 outbreak. “We’ve been making 10,000 units of 500ml hand sanitiser bottles per day,” he said.
CBP Intercepts First Package of Counterfeit COVID-19 Test Kits.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized a package filled with fake COVID-19 test kits late last week—marking the agency’s first interception of counterfeit goods connected to the novel coronavirus outbreak, an official confirmed to Nextgov Thursday.
While conducting an enforcement examination of “a parcel manifested as ‘Purified Water Vials’ with a declared value of $196.81” that’d recently arrived from the United Kingdom, CBP officers assigned to the Los Angeles International Airport International Mail Facility on March 12 apparently realized something was awry.
“A complete examination of the shipment, led to the finding of vials filled with a white liquid and labeled ‘Corona Virus 2019nconv (COVID-19)’ and ‘Virus1 Test Kit,’” officials wrote in the announcement. “The shipment was turned over to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for analysis.”
Though an official from CBP’s public affairs office told Nextgov that the incident was the first COVID-19 related counterfeit finding by the agency so far, they would not confirm if it was the only counterfeit finding the agency intercepted related to the pandemic.