34 lakh spurious medicines seized in Titagarh, West Bengal

Kolkata – Authorities in West Bengal have seized counterfeit medicines worth Rs 34 lakh from two warehouses in Titagarh. The West Bengal Directorate of Drug Control carried out the searches on Saturday as part of an ongoing investigation into a spurious drug supplier in Howrah. In February, the directorate had already uncovered a drug racket in Howrah, where they seized counterfeit medicines worth Rs 17 lakh. Officials believe that as much as Rs 1 crore worth of fake medicines might still be available in the market. During the recent raids, officials found that the QR codes on the medicine packaging were copied. These codes were introduced in 2023 to help consumers distinguish between genuine and fake drugs. Earlier this week, the directorate also searched a nursing home in north Kolkata, where they found more counterfeit medicines. The recent raid was triggered by a tip-off, leading officials to the warehouses of a wholesaler, where they discovered large quantities of fake medications. According to sources, the accused individuals were importing fake medicines from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, and were falsifying their batch numbers before supplying them to retailers.