Spurious drugs case: Kingpin’s travel to turkiye throws light on racket’s international links

The alleged kingpin of the spurious drugs racket, Prashanth, who is in the custody of Special Investigation Team (SIT), allegedly travelled to Turkiye several times to procure original pharmaceutical labels, which were later used on counterfeit medicines, investigators have found.

The revelation has shed new light on the international links of the racket and the methods allegedly used to pass off spurious drugs as genuine medicines.

According to sources, Prashanth travelled to Turkiye several times a year, reportedly in connection with obtaining original labels of a pharmaceutical company. However, his Turkiye visa was cancelled on multiple occasions, following which he is suspected to have begun travelling to neighbouring countries.

Sources said the accused also travelled to several other countries, including Azerbaijan, where he was holed up before arrest.

Investigators suspect that Prashanth was procuring original pharmaceutical labels from Turkiye through intermediaries. These genuine labels were allegedly affixed to counterfeit medicines, which were then repackaged and supplied as genuine products.

The SIT investigation has reportedly revealed that the accused and his associates were allegedly mixing counterfeit medicines with original medicines and supplying them to the market, to prevent being detected.

Officials are continuing to investigate the international network behind the alleged spurious drugs operation, including the role of intermediaries who helped procure pharmaceutical labels and the destinations visited by the accused.