Authorities have unearthed a scam related to the manufacture and sale of “fake” Monjaro (Terzepatide) injections and arrested two persons here in this connection, an official said on Monday.
A nationwide alert has been issued to detect the fake injections, and an investigation is underway to unravel the entire network, including all those involved in this extortion, Narcotics Control Officer Amandeep Chauhan said.
He said that a team from the Health Ministry raided a residential society in Sector 62 on Monday and arrested two people, including the main accused.
The accused were importing crude medicines from China and manufacturing fake injections of Monjaro. The entire racket was operated out of an apartment in the community. The officer alleged that the accused provided these illegal injections through the B2B portal Indiamart.
Monjaro is a weekly injectable medication for type 2 diabetes that greatly improves blood sugar control and helps with weight loss.
“We received information about a fake injection chain operating in Gurugram and based on this information we conducted a raid,” Chouhan said.
On Saturday, the team had recovered the value of the injections $70 lakh from a vehicle in the fourth phase of DLF. While investigating the matter, the team on Monday raided an apartment in Sector 62, where the injections were prepared by mixing water with raw medicines, officials said.
“After that, all packaging, barcode pasting and labeling operations were done in the same apartment. The team also recovered the packaging machines,” they added.
Mujmal, a DLF Phase 4 deliveryman, was initially arrested. Later, the main accused, Avi Sharma, was also taken into custody.
“Majamal is from Uttar Pradesh, while Avi is from Gurugram. The two accused were preparing these injections in their apartment,” they added.
“A nationwide alert has been issued regarding the injections. Batch numbers have also been shared so that Ministry of Health teams can remain vigilant and detect fake injections.
“The entire network is being investigated to determine where the fake syringes were supplied and how many people were involved in this extortion,” Chouhan said.
To cash in on the growing demand for the drug, fake injections are being introduced in the market, said Rajesh Goyal, a chemist.
Experts say such fake injections can cause serious health problems.
