Solan: In a major revelation aiding substandard drug manufacturing, the Paonta Sahib police today seized counterfeit wrappers of popular drug brands from the premises of a printing press.
The printing press operator failed to produce authorisation letters or orders for the materials, leading to the registration of a case under various sections of the Copyright Act.
The police raided the Paonta Printing press this morning after Pradeep Dhruv Jha of Brand Protection Services Limited, Delhi, lodged a complaint alleging unauthorised printing of counterfeit wrappers for medicines and other brands at the said printing press.
The company officials also accompanied the police team whose officials seized a substantial quantity of counterfeit wrappers from the premises of the printing press.
Tejveer Singh, who was found sitting in the press, could not produce copies of orders received from the three companies for printing packaging material which imitated the original wrappers.
DSP Paonta Sahib, Manvendra Thakur, confirmed the operation, stating that a case has been registered under various sections 63 and 64 of the Copyright Act, 1957 and a probe was underway to establish who had ordered these wrappers.
The scale of the nefarious operation could be estimated from the fact that 199 sheets bearing the trademark of Omnigel, a popular pain relief ointment of Cipla and 150 sheets of Globucel 10 injection of Intas Pharmaceuticals, were seized by the police. Besides this, 200 sheets of wrappers of Flex Kwik, a popular product of Pidilite company, were also recovered from the premises.
Globucel 10 is an injection that strengthens the body’s immune system to help fight infections. It’s used to treat people with a weakened immune system, such as those with primary immunodeficiency disorders.
Significantly, the printing of counterfeit wrappers hint towards their use in spurious and substandard drug trade proliferating in the vicinity. Since a large number of injection samples manufactured in drug firms of Himachal are declared substandard every month by the national drugs regulator, this revelation has brought the nefarious operations under the scanner.
This is the first such raid by the police in recent years where counterfeit drug wrappers have been seized. It remains to be seen whether an authorised pharmaceutical unit was unauthorisedly manufacturing drugs of other popular brands or whether it was the doing of an unlicensed unit to make a quick buck.
Sunny Kaushal, Assistant Drugs Controller, Nahan, stated that it is important to trace the backward linkages of the case as it is a serious issue hinting towards spurious drug trade proliferating in the area.
Earlier in 2016, a team of drug officials had seized 30 spurious drugs manufactured under fake pharma companies by a pharmaceutical manufacturer in Paonta Sahib.
