KANPUR: The Kanpur unit of Special Task Force (STF), on Thursday, arrested three persons with 265 Remdesivir injections meant for black marketing.
Remdesivir is a key medicine, used in the treatment of Covid-19 and is in high demand.
Local chemists told TOI that Remdesivir injections are sold at a high price of over Rs 4,000-5,000 per injection in the black market.
The STF sleuths nabbed three persons with 265 Remdesivir vials on Thursday from Kidwai Nagar crossing. However, it is yet to be confirmed whether the recovered vials are original or fake.
DCP South Raveena Tyagi said, “Prashant Shukla of Naubasta’s Pashupati Nagar and Baktauri Purwa resident Mohan Soni, were arrested with the vials wrapped in a saree packet. On the information provided by the two, STF sleuths arrested Sachin Kumar of Yamuna Nagar Haryana.”
During interrogation, they revealed that they had received this supply from West Bengal, the police said.
“Prashant and Mohan said that they were supposed to be paid by a person hailing from West Bengal but the he, instead of paying, asked them to take 265 Remdesivir vials from him and deliver them further to one Sachin of Yamuna Nagar, Haryana in lieu of hefty sum,” said the police.
The police further said that the batch number on the vials was found to be missing, besides the arrested Kanpur persons also could not produce the bill of the vials. “We have seized the mobile phones of the trio to scan call detail record to ascertain their nexus,” said Tyagi further.
STF sources further said that they had started tracking the accused following an input given by military intelligence to Lucknow STF.