Three held for selling smuggled Remdesivir in Chennai

CHENNAI:  Three men were arrested by Adyar police for selling Remdesivir medicines smuggled from Bangladesh. While the authenticity of the vials are to be tested, the trio were remanded in judicial custody.
The accused were identified as Aadityan (24), from KK Nagar, Raj Kumar (27) from Parrys and Syed Amjith (38) from Thousand Lights. Police said that Aadityan and Raj Kumar own pharmacies while Syed Amjith works in a pharmacy. 

“The special team of police was monitoring sales of Remdesivir medicines on black market and came across an advertisement online which was shared through Whatsapp status and messages. Based on the message, police posing as customers nabbed the trio near Indira Nagar water tank,” said the police officer.

The trio were selling a vial of the medicine for Rs 25,000 and two vials were seized from them. The police also seized Rs 89,000 cash which they had got from selling vials. “On interrogation, the trio confessed that the vials had reached them from Bangladesh through an agent. The cover of the vial has a different name and the price tag says 3,500 Bangladeshi Taka,” said Sub-Inspector of Police Selva Kumar who led the special team.

While the trio have been arrested and remanded in judicial custody, the vials have been sent to the lab to test if they are fake. A hunt for the agent has been launched. It can be remembered that a major racket was busted by the city police few days ago after arresting six people across the State and seizing over 200 vials.