NEW DELHI, 23 JULY: Days after three persons were arrested for running one of the largest drug rackets from Delhi and NCR, the crime branch made a fourth arrest after raiding a factory in the Naraina industrial area in southwest Delhi.

DCP (crime) Ashok Chand confirmed the arrest. The accused, Afroz Alam, was involved in preparing fake aluminium foil which was used to package the fake drugs.

"Alam is a master of design and had devised a computer software that replicated the designs used to package the originals. He has been running this racket for many years. He had set up the present unit only four and a half years ago,'' said additional DCP (crime) Joy Tirkey. The original gang, headed by a 55-year-old doctor, had been operating for over five years and used to supply spurious medicines, worth over Rs 8 crore, in Delhi and other states. The accused have been identified as Dr Daya Shankar Mishra (55), Dinesh Sahu (52) and Moti Lal (45). Several members of the gang are on the run and police are yet to identify several chemists who were involved in the racket, said cops.

The discovery of a spurious medicine racket, operating in Delhi and Faridabad, blew the lid off the interstate nexus between manufacturers, middlemen and chemists. Most of these medicines were sent to Bhagirath Place in Delhi and others states like West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand, said crime branch officers. Fake medicines worth over Rs 24 lakh were seized.

Source: Times of India