Updated on Oct 28, 4.48 p.m.

The seized drugs by FDCA included counterfeit abortion-inducing antibiotic drugs and medicines. 

Further raising suspicions, the shop owner, Harsh Thakkar, could not produce any sales or purchase records for these medicines, ultimately confirming their counterfeit nature, as detailed in the release.

Four samples of the confiscated medicines have been dispatched to a laboratory in Vadodara for thorough analysis.

Meanwhile, authorities are actively interrogating Thakkar to ascertain the origin of these fake drugs.

Later in the day, the FDCA team carried out a subsequent operation, this time raiding a residence located near Himmatnagar town hall.

During this operation, they seized abortifacient drugs and other medicines valued at ₹12.74 lakh.

Further investigations uncovered that the owner of Swaminarayan Medical Agency, Dhaval Patel, had stored these medicines at his residence for illegal sale, operating without the requisite permissions from authorities.

Gujarat’s mighty share in the country’s pharmaceutical industry has been a talking point in much of the state’s propaganda.

However, several raids conducted by the Food and Drugs Control Administration (FDCA) paint a completely different picture of the state’s pharma sector. The department seized fake antibiotic drugs for serious ailments worth nearly ₹17.5 lakh on Oct 22.

Fake antibiotic drugs seized from Ahmedabad

The FDCA interrogated several individuals and conducted raids leading to  the revelation of a state-wide fake antibiotic drug swindle in cities like Nadiad, Surat, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, etc.

From Ahmedabad’s Khadia, the department has seized a total of 99 boxes (10x10 tablets) of POSMOXCV 625 (amoxicillin and potassium clavulanate with lactic acid bacillus tablet) from an accused named Khimaram Kumhar.

This package is worth a whopping ₹2.61 lakh. A probe launched into these tablets deemed them to be counterfeit.

These medicines were found to have been manufactured by a Himachal Pradesh company located in Baddi, named M/s DG Pharmaceuticals. Upon inquiring with the Drug Controller in Himachal Pradesh, it was revealed that no such manufacturing firm exists.

Fake medicine syndicate uncovered by FDCA

Following this, the accused, Khimaram, was interrogated thoroughly, which revealed that he had bought these drugs from an individual named Arun Amera.

Amera’s interrogation led the department to a person named Vipul Degda, who sold these medicines.This  search at Degda’s residence in turn led FDCA to another fake antibiotic drug lot valued at up to ₹4.83 lakh.

Degda revealed that he had bought these medicines without a bill from Darshan Vyas of Navrangpura, Ahmedabad. 

Currently, the investigation is on. 

MO of the fake antibiotic rink

Degda has admitted to having sold fake antibiotics to doctors and medical stores without bills in Gujarat’s different cities.

FDCA’s raids in Nadiad, Surat, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, etc, confiscated fake antibiotic drugs worth around ₹10.50 lakh.

Individuals posing as medical representatives of ‘benami’ (unnamed) companies would deliver these fake antibiotic medicines to doctors.

The accused have been handed over to the Isanpur police station, and a police complaint has also been filed against them under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.

(With inputs from IANS)

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