Fake antibiotics with international labels: 15,000 counterfeit vials sold in India over 1.5 years

Bengaluru: An interstate counterfeit drug racket sold around 15,000 vials of fake antibiotic injections across the country over the past one-and-a-half years, according to the Karnataka Police Special Investigation Team.

The racket allegedly imported fake labels of medicines, including Pfizer's Zavicefta and Emblavco, from Turkey and affixed them to vials containing substandard or unusable medicines.

The fake medicines were sold for around ₹10 crore in Bengaluru, Chennai and Delhi alone, with labels bearing the names of international pharmaceutical companies pasted on the vials.

Prashanth Rajan Babu, who led the counterfeit drug racket in Karnataka, revealed details of the operation to the Special Investigation Team, police said. Prashanth, who had been staying in Azerbaijan to evade arrest, was taken into custody after arriving at Bengaluru airport last week.

The racket came to light after the Food Safety and Drug Administration conducted raids at farmhouses in Karnataka in August and seized counterfeit medicines worth ₹4.91 crore.

The investigation found that medicines, including expired and unusable drugs, were being distributed after labels of major pharmaceutical companies were affixed to them.

The racket sourced cheap and unusable medicines from Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Telangana.

The fake medicines were marketed through DM Pharma, registered in the names of Chennai-based Balasubramanian and Prashanth's wife Priyanka, and Kripa Pharma, owned by Veeresh Kumar Jain.
Balasubramanian has also been arrested in connection with the case.