Ahmedabad : Five persons have been arrested for allegedly trying to black market an anti-fungal injection used in the treatment of mucormycosis in Gujarat”s Ahmedabad city, police said on Friday. Officials of the Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA) and Gujarat police nabbed the five accused from different parts of the city on Thursday, an official said.
The Gujarat government has declared mucormycosis or black fungus, mainly found in people who have recovered from COVID-19, a pandemic after considerable number of cases of the infection have emerged in the state. In light of rise in these cases, anti-fungal drug Amphotericin B, considered effective in the treatment of mucormycosis, is in high demand. Based on a tip-off, the city crime branch laid a trap in Naranpura area on Thursday and nabbed four men with eight vials of Amphotericin B, worth Rs 2,518, said a release by crime branch on Friday, the official said.
The accused Pragnesh Patel, Vashishth Patel, Nirav Panchal and Smit Raval were allegedly selling a vial of injection, worth Rs 314, for Rs 10,000, he said. While Pragnesh and Smit claimed that they had purchased the vials from Vashishth for Rs 8,000 per vial, the latter alleged that he had bought the drug at Rs 5,000 per vial from Nirav, the official said. The accused were arrested on the charges of cheating, criminal conspiracy and under relevant provisions of the Disaster Management Act, he said.
In a similar operation on Thursday, FDCA officials nabbed one Sanket Patel near SG Highway with two vials of Amphotericin B, which he was trying to sell at a high price to needy persons, a release from the FDCA stated. Since the injections did not have any labels, officials believe that they were fake, the statement said. While the vials were sent to a laboratory to ascertain the contents, the FDCA has urged people not to buy medicines from unauthorised sellers.