How A Two-State Counterfeit Drugs Racket Operated Before Being Busted In Ghaziabad

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For months, unsuspecting patients in parts of western Uttar Pradesh may have been consuming medicines that looked genuine but were anything but. This risk came into sharp focus this week after police in Ghaziabad busted a large counterfeit drugs racket that operated quietly across state borders.

The crackdown followed a complaint from a pharmaceutical company that noticed fake versions of one of its widely used medicines surfacing in the market.

Police teams began tracking supply routes and retail patterns, eventually uncovering a network that stretched into Haryana, before feeding fake drugs back into Uttar Pradesh.

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A Carefully Split Supply Chain

Investigators said the gang deliberately divided its operations to reduce costs and avoid attention. Counterfeit tablets were manufactured in Haryana using substandard ingredients. Separately, packaging material, designed to closely resemble the original brand, was sourced from printing units in Meerut.

The final assembly happened in Ghaziabad. Here, tablets were packed into branded-looking strips and boxes before being sent out to wholesalers and neighbourhood retailers. By the time the medicines reached shop shelves, even experienced buyers would have struggled to tell the difference.

“This was a planned, professional setup. From manufacturing to packaging to distribution, everything was compartmentalised,” a senior police officer said.

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Cheap to Produce, Quick to Sell

The reach of the racket is explained by its economics. Each box of spurious medicine costs the accused about Rs. 35-40 to manufacture. Retailers were offered the same box for Rs. 110-115, much cheaper than the genuine product, priced at about Rs. 280.

The lower price meant faster sales and better margins, which attracted the proliferation of spurious stock. Police seized approximately 50,000 spurious tablets during the raids, besides sealing machines, packaging materials, and transport vehicles.

A Silent Menace To Public Health

Officials emphasized that the crime of counterfeit medicines is not purely financial but also poses a serious health hazard. Some of these drugs may contain the wrong dosage, may have toxic ingredients, or may not have an active ingredient at all, which can delay treatment or aggravate illness.

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The accused has been arrested and booked under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and relevant sections of the  IPC. Police are now tracing forward links to identify retailers who knowingly sold them the spurious medicines.

Authorities have warned consumers to buy medicines only from licensed pharmacies and to report suspicious products, cautioning them that the investigation continues and more such arrests are likely.