Three nabbed for COVID vaccine black marketing

Three persons were nabbed on Saturday by a team of the Food and Drugs control department of Gurugram for their alleged involvement in black marketing of Remdesivir injections used in the treatment of Covid-positive patients, an official said.

The arrested persons were identified as Jitender, Rajkumar and Kamal Kishor Singh. They were nabbed by the drugs department team from Sector-52 in Gurugam.

One Remdesivir injection was recovered from their possession.

"In connection with the incident I had received an information on April 14 on my phone, in which a person claimed that he had purchased Remdesivir injection for Rs 14,000 from these suppliers. The person had also provided a mobile number of one supplier. Following this, we had prepared a decoy customer and had laid a plan and nabbed the trio with injections on Saturday from Ardee city gate in Sector-52 in Gurugam," Amandeep Chauhan, drugs control officer, told IANS.

The maximum sale price was Rs 4,000 for the medicine, but they were trying to sell each injection at Rs 25,000, Chauhan said.

The official said the department has recommended an FIR against these suppliers in police under Section-3 of Essential commodities Act, Drugs and cosmetics Act and other relevant sections of the IPC against these persons.

Remdesivir is a key medicine, used in the treatment of coronavirus, and with the spurt in Covid-19 cases in the state, the injections are in high demand. Taking advantage of the shortage, some people have been selling the medication at high prices in the black market.