Two arrested for reprinting dates on expired drugs

KOLKATA, MARCH 2017:

The next time you buy medicines for your child or any other family member, be careful. In a major drive against spurious drugs by the Directorate of Drug Control in West Bengal and detective department, the police on Thursday arrested a printing press owner and a wholesale medicine seller for allegedly wiping out the original expiry date of drugs meant for both children and adults with nail polish remover and passing them off as fit to be sold.

Expired drugs worth Rs 3.50 lakh have been seized from the printing press at Canning Street, said joint CP (crime) Vishal Garg.

The press owner has been identified as Pawan Jhunjhunwala who owns properties both at Canning Street and Shibpur in Howrah. The wholesale medicine seller, a resident of Golabari in Howrah, has been identified as Niresh Sarogi. A godown -full of such expired medicines -was being raided at Belur on the GT Road till last reports came. Cops said that a case has been registered with Hare Street police. "After the complaint, a raid was immediately carried out at Jhunjhunwala's press at Canning Street by the anti rowdy squad of detective department," said Garg.

According to sources, the accused had a unique modus operandi. "The medicines were rarely brought to Canning Street on goods vehicles. Instead, the wholesaler would stock the expired medicines at the Belur godown. Later, they would deploy persons to carry these medicines physically to this Burrabazar address where nail polish remover would be used to wipe out the original manufacturing and expiry dates. The new dates would be printed soon enough and then the medicines would be pushed back to the open market. "We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg. We are expecting more arrests soon," said a source at Lalbazar.

Sources said they are investigating the role of some pharmaceutical companies in this respect since it is also their responsibility to recall the expired medicines. The Times of India