Mumbai: Amidst the shortage of Remdesivir, an antiviral drug, the city crime branch has arrested two persons for its black marketing and seized 284 vials of the drug from them. Remdesivir which has proved vital against COVID-19 is currently in short supply as the cases are rising at alarming rate and people are complaining about its availability and also about inflated rates.
The accused were found selling the antiviral drug for Rs 7000-8000 per vial, said officials. The state government has recently capped its price between Rs 1,100 to 1,400 and warned against black marketing and hoarding.
According to the officials, crime branch unit 10 received information that few people are indulged in black marketing of the antiviral drug and were selling the drugs at an inflated rate. Accordingly, they laid a trap in Jogeshwari on Thursday night along with officials of Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) and apprehended one Sarfaraj Javed Hussain, 38, as he arrived to deliver the vials.
During his search, 12 vials were recovered. He led the crime branch to a godown in Jogeshwari west from where another 272 vials of the antiviral drug were seized. One Javed Akhtar Abdul Rehman Shaikh of a pharma company has been arrested, said officials.
Following the seizure, an offence has been registered at Andheri police station and both the accused were handed for further investigation.
