The arrest of three persons in the Temple City on Sunday night for their alleged involvement in spurious drug trade has revealed that a gang with well-entrenched networks has been involved in supply of counterfeit drugs in Southern districts and the Textile City of Coimbatore for almost a year now.
Preliminary investigations reveal that the gang has been operating from Chennai.
The main accused - Malieek of Villupuram - had been despatching fake ‘Vicks Action 500’ tablets from Chennai for packing to one Thamaraiselvan of Madurai.
Thamaraiselvan (43) of Anupanadi, who is alleged to have been involved in preparing fake carton boxes for various items such as asafoetida, had designed them for the drug also from printing units in Sivakasai.
“We have already sent two special teams - one to Villupuram to secure Malieek and the other to Sivakasi - to locate the printing press involved in printing fake carton boxes,” said P Kaliappan, Inspector of Jaihindpuram police station.
Based on a complaint from senior employees of IPR Vigilance Service, (which was engaged by the Procter and Gamble to prevent the supply of fake products of their brands), it was found that fake Vicks Action 500 was in circulation in Madurai.
Following this, a special police team arrested Thamaraiselvan and two others - Anand (23) of Anupanadi and Mariselvam (42) of Solaialagupuram and seized 20 boxes (each box containing 9,600 counterfeit tablets).
During interrogation, Thamaraiselvan told police that Malieek would send the counterfeit drugs in private buses.
After the package was received, it would be brought to Mariselvam’s house, where Anand along with Thamaraiselvan would pack the medicines in fake carton boxes.
“Thamaraiselvan had been earning more than Rs 1000 for packing a consignment, while Anand would get Rs 300 a day for helping him pack the materials,” said a senior police official.
The packed spurious drugs would be sent back to Chennai in private buses and from there, the gang would circulate them across the State. A senior police official who was investigating the 2010 expired drugs case in Chennai said that most of the spurious drugs were manufactured in Puducherry, where many pharmaceutical companies were functioning.
Meenakshi Sundaram, the main accused in the expired drug case, also owned pharmaceutical establishments in Puducherry, he said.
The official also pointed out that gangs involved in spurious drugs trade were mostly involved in producing either cheaper drugs or costlier ones, which have more demand in the market.
The investigation team should study the background of the main accused Malieek, to find out if he had any links with those involved in the expired drug case, he added.
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