Bhubaneswar: Even as Odisha government is grappling with multi-crore fake medicines racket, police arrested two persons for allegedly selling medicines door-to-door without prescription in Bhubaneswar on Monday.
As per reports, the two persons were found moving from house to house in Salia Sahi, a slum area in the capital city, and selling the medicines. They were reportedly giving the medicines asked by the residents even without any prescription.
On being informed by the local people, a team from Maitri Vihar police station went to the spot and arrested the two persons. The police have also seized the medicines from their possession.
While the identity of the arrested persons has not been confirmed, the police were investigating to ascertain whether the drugs were fake or not.
It may be noted that the Health Department has constituted a special task force comprising a senior administrative officer and selected officers of drugs control administration for investigation after seizure of a huge quantity of fake drugs from two agencies in Jharsuguda and Bargarh districts in December last year.
Investigation revealed that the spurious drugs were supplied from three Varanasi-based firms whose drug licenses had been cancelled, as per information provided by the UP government. On January 19, the team arrested an accused named Sunil Agrawal from Bargarh and lodged an FIR against Amit Kumar Sarwagi of Jharsuguda, who was absconding.
On April 25, the Special Task Force (STF) of the Odisha Police had also arrested 4 persons from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh in connection with fake drug racket.
