New Delhi: In a significant breakthrough under ‘Operation Kavach,’ the Cyber Cell of the Crime Branch, Delhi, has unearthed a major illegal manufacturing unit involved in the fabrication of empty tubes for branded spurious cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. The operation led to the recovery of high-end machinery and thousands of counterfeit packing materials.
Following the registration of FIR No. 360/25 u/s 318(4)/336/340/61(2) BNS and Sections 18A(ii), 18(c), 27B(ii), 27C of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act at PS Crime Branch, a dedicated team of the Cyber Cell conducted a targeted raid at an industrial unit in Sector-03, Bawana Industrial Area, Delhi.
During the raid, a fully operational manufacturing unit was found engaged in the production of counterfeit empty tubes for popular brands, including: Betnovate-C, Fair & Lovely & Veet Hair Removal Cream. The owner of the Bawana unit is reported to be currently based in Vietnam. The investigation revealed that the illegal unit was operated by accused Pramod Kumar Gupta, who supplied these empty tubes to a filling and manufacturing facility located in Bijwasan, Delhi.
Earlier, accused persons namely Shree Ram, Gaurav Bhagat, Pramod Kumar Gupta, Rahul Aggarwal & Anil Rawat were arrested in the present case.
Accordingly, a team led by Insp Manjeet Kumar, consisting W/SI Shabnam Saify, SI Pravesh Kumar Rathi, ASI Kanwarpal, HCs Vipin, Rajesh, Anuj, Manish & Vinod conducted raid at Bawana, Delhi on technical surveillance and successfully busted a manufacturing unit.
Subsequently, on the basis of technical surveillance, a raid was conducted at Industrial Area, Bawana, Sector-3, Delhi. A detailed inspection of the premises was carried out by the staff and authorized representative of concern company, and necessary samples were drawn. A huge quantity of raw material, finished products, packaging material, and manufacturing machinery was recovered from the spot, which is as follows.
02 Body Maker Machines used for fabricating tubes.
150 empty tubes and 01 plastic paper roll of HUDA BEAUTY.
350 empty tubes of Fair Angel USA (Hair Removal cream).
550 empty tubes of Botox Bee Venom Wrinkle Cream.
500 empty tubes of London Pride Hair Removal cream.
350 empty tubes of Wart Removal Cream.
750 empty tubes of Mosseal Mosquito Repellent.
In a follow-up action, the team intercepted a key link in the supply chain, Syed Feroz Hasan (34), a resident of Lucknow, UP, who operates a cosmetic shop in Sadar Bazar, Delhi.
During interrogation, Hasan confessed to purchasing spurious Clobetamil-G cream from co-accused Shri Ram and distributing it across the Sadar Bazar market. Consequently, he has been bound down under Section 35(3) of the BNSS.
Further investigation is in progress to identify and apprehend backward and forward linkages, including sources of raw materials and the distribution network, so as to completely dismantle the entire spurious medicine and fake cosmetic supply chain.
