Officials Seize Large Cache of Fake COVID Vaccines, Drugs, Test Kits in Varanasi
New Delhi: In a raid conducted on February 2, the Uttar Pradesh Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has secured a large tranche of spurious COVID-19 vaccines, drugs and rapid antigen test kits from Varanasi.
The accused were five individuals in Varanasi and nine in Delhi, working together.
Uttar Pradesh’s assembly elections are set to begin in a week.
According to a note sent by the state FDA to the Drug Controller General of India, and which The Wire Science has seen, the total seizure is worth Rs 4 crore.
“Huge quantity of illegal and spurious Covid-19 vaccine(s), Covid-19 rapid test kits, unlabelled vials of Covishield vaccine, remdesivir injection and other material to carry out the manufacturing, labelling and packaging of the vaccines” has been recovered, according to the communique.
Officials also seized as many as 10,800 kits of ‘Standard Q Covid-19 Ag SD BIOSENSOR Rapid Test Kits’. In normal course, the kits are manufactured by SD Biosensor Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., a Gurugram-based company. The seized materials had fake batch numbers and fake expiry dates.
Lear MoreBengaluru: Smuggling of currency, gold via Kempegowda International Airport shoots up; seven attempts in January
BENGALURU: February arrived with Customs sleuths at Kempegowda International Airport nabbing two men from Tamil Nadu for attempting to smuggle out foreign currency, including US dollars and UAE dirhams, worth Rs 8.4 lakh to Dubai.
In fact, throughout January, there was a marked rise in smuggling from and to KIA. Authorities cracked six cases of gold and currency smuggling and busted another racket which brought heroin worth Rs 5.3 crore via air courier.
In the recent past, smuggling activities through KIA have been at an all-time low as international flight numbers went down due to the pandemic situation. But things began changing towards the end of 2021, and January of 2022 saw a sudden surge in illegal activities, including gold and currency smuggling from the Gulf by carriers who are often part of international gangs with links to Bengaluru.
2022 began with a smuggling bid on January 4 when the sleuths unearthed 24 gold biscuits worth a whopping Rs 1.4 crore hidden under a passenger seat of an IndiGo flight that had arrived from Dubai.
“The gold weighing 2.8kg was pasted by the smuggler under the seat using a duct tape, possibly for his accomplice to retrieve it at a later period when the flight switched to domestic leg to head to another city after landing in Bengaluru,” said an officer with Bengaluru Customs. On January 18, there were attempts by two passengers who flew down from Dubai with gold paste worth Rs 42 lakh hidden in their bodies. The following day saw a domestic passenger arriving from Mumbai with smuggled foreign gold pieces worth over Rs 26 lakh.
‘Fake ghee’ packets seized in Ambala, case registered
The Ambala police have registered a case under charges of the copyright Act and cheating, using false property mark and counterfeiting property mark after fake packets of Patanjali ghee were allegedly recovered from a store in Barara of Ambala on Wednesday evening.
Akhilesh Pal, a resident of Indore, stated that their company’s “investigation and detective services” had been authorised by Patanjali Ayurved Limited to keep a check on fake products. In his complaint to the police, Akhilesh said they came to know that two wholesalers, Narender Super Store and Sunder Lal Sunil Kumar Trader, in Barara were selling Patanjali Ghee at lower rates.
A team comprising food safety officer Rajiv Kumar and Barara police conducted raids in this regard. During checking, 15 packs of 1 kg each of Patanjali Ghee were recovered from Narender Super Store which didn’t match with the company’s product. The printing, artwork and colour were different. Four samples have been taken by the food safety officer for testing.
The complainant further stated that as per his experience, the packs were prepared to look like Patanjali’s ghee in order to cheat the customers.
A case was registered under Sections 420, 482, 483, 485, 486 of the IPC and 63, 64, and 65 of the Copyright Act at the Barara police station.
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/haryana/fake-ghee-packets-seized-in-ambala-case-registered-366877
Lear MoreDCA officials seize Covid testing kits, fake sanitiser
VIJAYAWADA: The Drugs Control Administration (DCA) officials on Wednesday conducted surprise checks at Vaishnavi Garments alias Vaishnavi Enterprises in the city here on Wednesday for selling Covid testing kits and fake hand sanitiser without any drug licence.The officials also seized products worth Rs 37 lakh from the store under Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and rules made under r/w Medical Devices Rules, 2017.
In a press release issued here, DCA assistant director A Anil Kumar said, “We conducted surprise checks at the store on credible information and found the store was selling Covid test kits without any drug licence and stocked spurious hand sanitiser. Persons indulged in sale of drugs, diagnostic testing kits without possessing valid drug licences are liable for punishment under Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 with imprisonment for three to five years. Any violations under Medical Devices Rules, 2017 will be viewed seriously and necessary actions will be taken as per law.”
Lear More120kg fake milk solids made with soybean, starch seized
Rajkot: The health department of Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) on Saturday busted a racket of supplying duplicate milk solids (mawa) used in making traditional sweets. They seized 120kg of duplicate mawa made from vegetable extracts from GondalChowkdi. The product was being sold in Rajkot city at less than half the price of pure mawa made out of milk fats.
Usually, mawa is made from milk fats, but the stock seized by the RMC health department was found to be made out of soybean, starch, maize flour and skimmed milk powder.
According to RMC officials, mawa made out of pure milk fats is sold at Rs 400 per kilogram. But the duplicate mawa was being sold at Rs 140 per kg in the Rajkot market. They said that consumption of mawa made out of vegetable extracts could prove harmful for health.
Officials said that the seized mawa was brought from Kutiyana in the Porbandar district. The health officials have sent samples for testing at laboratory in Vadodara and started an investigation.
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Assam Police seizes Burmese cigarettes worth Rs 20 lakh in Hailakandi
Assam Police had a major success against illegal trade in the state yesterday after it seized Burmese cigarettes worth Rs 20 lakhs.
The police ran an operation based on intel in Assam’s Hailakandi district from the house of a person identified as Abdul Ahad Laskar.
Not just Burmese cigarettes, but a large quantity of other foreign cigarettes were also seized from his house which had brought in illegally inside India. Apart from these, police also seized a sum of Rs 50 lakhs from his house.
However, Laskar managed to flee from his house before the police reached there. Meanwhile, a case has been registered and a manhunt is on to nab the absconder.
https://newslivetv.com/assam-police-seizes-burmese-cigarettes-worth-rs-20-lakh-in-hailakandi/
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Man nabbed at Hyderabad airport for smuggling 2.7 kg gold in form of paste, chains
Customs officials at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad seized 2,715.800 grams of gold items valued at Rs 1.36 crore from a passenger.
Gold valued at Rs 1.36 crore was seized from a passenger at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, Customs officials said on Saturday, January 22. The passenger had arrived by flight 6E 025 from Dubai on Friday, January 21. The officials detected and seized 2,715.800 grams of gold items valued at Rs 1.36 crore from him. Gold chains and gold in paste form were concealed inside hand baggage and check-in baggage.
This is the latest in a series of incidents of gold smuggling detected at the airport this month. On January 11, the customs officials seized 1.48 kg gold valued at Rs 72.80 lakh from three women passengers who arrived from Dubai. The gold was seized in three separate cases. Two of the passengers had hid the gold inside undergarments while the third had concealed it in rectum.
The officials on January 10 recovered 442.6 grams of gold valued at Rs 21.70 lakhs from a passenger who arrived from Dubai. The gold in paste form was concealed inside a specially stitched pocket of undergarment. A day earlier, they recovered gold in paste form from a passenger who had concealed it in the bandages tied to calves of both the legs.
Lear MoreHeroin and gold seized at Chennai airport
About 1.07 kg of heroin worth ₹7 crore and 1.52 kg of gold and other goods worth ₹69.44 lakh was seized at the airport by Chennai Air Customs and two passengers have been arrested in this regard, according to a release.
On Thursday, around 3 a.m., 29-year-old Judith Twinomwebembezi, a resident of Uganda, arrived from Sharjah. She was detained by officials who found she 108 capsules that contained heroin hidden in her innerwear. Totally, 1.07 kg of heroin was seized and she was arrested under the provisions of NDPS Act, 1985 read with Customs Act, 1962.
In another case, Mohammed Aasik, who arrived from Dubai, was found carrying gold paste in cylindrical rods in the baggage and two gold chains in his pocket which totally weighed 1.52 kg. He was also carrying electronic goods in his luggage. He was arrested.
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Auckland woman jailed for smuggling 19 million cigarettes into country
An Auckland woman has been jailed for three years for her part in smuggling more than $18.7m of tobacco revenue into the country.
Hua Yi Zhu, 50, was sentenced at the Auckland District Court on Thursday for smuggling 19,419,400 cigarettes and revenue fraud of more than $18.7m in tobacco revenue spanning a four-year period.
Zhu’s sentencing marks the successful completion of Operation Whitethorn – a Customs investigation into a long-running tobacco smuggling enterprise.
Operation Whitethorn began in 2018 when Zhu’s husband Yu Zhi Hu was identified supplying large amounts of cigarettes to wholesale purchasers. In March 2020, Hu was sentenced to five years and three months’ imprisonment for smuggling cigarettes in shipping containers from China, using their legitimate furniture business as cover.
Lear MoreLiquor worth Rs 17 lakh seized from truck
SURAT: The detection of crime branch (DCB) on Tuesday seized Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and beer worth nearly Rs 17 lakh from truck near Amroli checkpost on Tuesday.
Following specific information, a DCB team kept a watch near the checkpost and stopped the truck and found 341 boxes of beer and 8,820 bottles of IMFL.
Police arrested DipendraSinh Rajput, a resident of Vapi and Mohhamed Zuber Ansari, a resident of Saiyadpura of Surat. Both are aides of listed bootleggers Firoz Fruitwala and his brother Salim.
Primary interrogation revealed that the brothers had ordered liquor from one Parmeshwar Pande alias Sahu, a resident of Vapi. Sahu loaded the consignment in the truck and sent it.
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