Starting from the capital Dhaka to the remote rural villages, various types of fake medicines are spreading

Mu.AB Siddique Bhuiyan: The cycle first bought Tetanus, Atropine Sulphate, Diazepam and Zation Group Atropine from Kholabazar for Tk 5 to 10 and sold them as complex drugs like Hepabig, Vitamin D3, Clopiczole and Fluenzale Deport Injection, Resogama P and Human Anti D Starting from the capital Dhaka to the remote rural villages, various types of fake medicines are spreading. According to intelligence information, at least 15 gangs based in Old Dhaka and Barisal are manufacturing fake medicines of different brands and marketing them to local and foreign companies. Some of these drugs are sold for up to 4,500 taka. Law and order forces say that 15 cycles are marketing fake drugs worth at least 10 crore taka a year. Last year, the police registered 15 cases for supplying fake medicines. There have been four more cases in the first five months of this year. 30 people were arrested in these cases. Officials involved in the investigation said that the DB has identified hundreds of fake medicine manufacturing factories and pharmacies in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur, Motijheel, Baridhara, Badda, Uttara and Old Dhaka. Baridhara General Hospital Pharmacy in Nardda, Naeem Pharmacy in Mitford, Shakeel Brothers, Sahara Drugs, Rajeev Enterprises, Al Aqsa Medicine, Alauddin Medicine and some other pharmacies have been found selling fake medicines. These pharmacies have been sealed. Apart from this, the Directorate of Drug Administration and DB recently raided an unregistered ‘pregnancy strip’ and ‘condom re-packing’ factory. From there, the police arrested Manik Chandra Sarkar, the owner of the fake medicine factory.

Which cycle is making which drug?
The anesthetic ‘G-pethidine’ is made with the sleeping injection ‘G-diazepam’. The owner of this circle is Alamgir Khan of Pirojpur; His associate Masood Rana and sold Baridhara General Hospital pharmacist Ahsan Habib Shaon. Alamgir buys G-Diazepam as 8 Tk a piece from various pharmacies in Mitford and sells it as G-Pethidine at the price of Tk 600. Anwar Hossain aka Wasim and Asim Ghosh is the owner of the fake vaccine and injection supply cycle to various hospitals and clinics in Dhaka. The gang marketed at least 9 drugs from different companies in India and Bangladesh under the guise of drug manufacturers in South Korea, France, Germany and Denmark. They are also provided in private clinics in Comilla, Barisal and Mymensingh. Law enforcement forces have identified several pharmacies in the three cities that keep their fake medicines. Recently DB also seized fake medicines worth crores of rupees from them.

There are five people in the fake antibiotic manufacturer and supplier circle. The owner of the circle is Abu Bakkar. Shaheen works as a supplier in Dhaka. Dealers Shahidul Islam and Sirajul Islam sent him medicines from Barisal. Their associates Md. Hridoy and salesman of Opsonin drug company Md. Humayun alias Rajeev. The cycle was discontinued by counterfeiting and marketing 11 types of antibiotic tablets of various pharmaceuticals. They also counterfeited the drugs of Acme Pharmaceuticals and Square Pharmaceuticals. A ring active in counterfeit Orsaline. They are marketing Orsaline by mixing salt and sugar in the packaging of SMC Enterprises. The owner of fake saline factory. Dulal But the police could not find him. Sayem Bhuiyan, manager of Saline’s foil paper manufacturing plant and Yadul Sardar, operator for the cycle.

Inceptor manufactures the drug Pantoprazole as pantoprazole and counterfeits Square’s Seklo, Healthcare’s Sergel, Opsonin Pharma’s Phoenix, SKF Pharmaceuticals’ Losectil and Etorix, Nilfamari said. Atiya. Iqbal Hossain used to supply those fake medicines in Dhaka. Iqbal used to buy government-run Essential Drugs Company’s Azithromycin Tablets and Cetirizine Injections and Drugs International’s Fexofast drugs from hospitals and sell them to Ranjan Varman’s pharmacy in Mitford. Another cycle was repackaging Popular Pharmaceuticals’ tetanus injection and making Switzerland’s Rohfilac 300′ injection. They make Grifol’s albumin (human) in the US with ‘albumin’ made in India for kidney dialysis. The ringleader is Ashfaq Ahmed Ali alias Suman. His associates Jasim Uddin, Shubo Burman, Pavita, Biswajit, Parvez, Dipankar, Ayyub and Press Malik. Salahuddin. DB’s Motijheel Division Assistant Commissioner Ershadur Rahman said, continuous operation is going on against fake medicine and vaccine supply cycle. Recently, four raids have seized fake medicines worth around Tk 6 crore. Ashraf Hossain, the spokesperson of the Department of Medicine Administration, told Samakal that the medicine administration is taking a strict stand against fake and expired medicines. The team is constantly monitoring the market. The campaign continues. Last year also various pharmacies were fined 3 crore rupees. The registration of seven institutions has been cancelled.