Two arrested for producing counterfeit medicine in Karachi
- By Kamil Arif -
- Jan 23, 2019
KARACHI: Two raids conducted by Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) officials along with Zimmedar Kaun team led to the arrest of at least two people involved in manufacturing counterfeit medicines in Karachi.
The first raid was conducted after Zimmedar Kaun team’s undercover members were introduced to a named Subhan Qureshi who agreed to produce a cough syrup similar to a popular branded syrup in the market.
The illegal drug manufacturer not only agreed to produce a counterfeit cough syrup but also took order for labeling it in the name of an unregistered firm, named ZK Pharma after Zimmedar Kaun show.
The samples of the syrup were taken to officials from DRAP who then raided Qureshi’s clinic-cum-production unit.
Once confronted, the man first denied producing allopathic or herbal medicine and then denied using chemicals used in allopathic medicine for producing the ZK-pharma cough syrup.
The DRAP officials repeatedly asked Subhan Qureshi about his qualification to run a clinic and the license to produce medicine but he couldn’t produce a single document.
DRAP officials then took samples of chemicals present in his production unit for examination for registration of case against him.
The second raid was conducted after another such criminal named Ali actually produced about 1000 bottles of a cough syrup in the name of ZK-pharma.
As the man asked the ARY News’ team to reach a place in Orangi Town to get the medicine, the Zimmedar Kaun team reached there with drug inspectors and inquired Ali about his production unit.
The man took the teams to his production unit which was just a room with chemicals and a water cooler being used to fill bottles.
It emerged that Ali’s father was a certified hakeem but his knowledge of medicine only came through helping his father in his work.
The DRAP officials ordered immediate closure of the production unit and took samples to register a case against the man.
Both the raids were shown in Zimmedar Kaun’s January 20 show.