90k pairs of ‘repackaged’ surgical gloves seized in Nurpur’s Jassur

The Drug Controlling Authority seized 90,000 pairs of allegedly repackaged surgical gloves from a house at Jassur, near here, yesterday. The gloves, allegedly bearing fake batch numbers and without specific information about the manufacturer, were taken into the custody by the drug inspector.

The suspicious gloves had been supplied by a Dharamsala-based wholesale supplier to the government health institutions, including Nurpur’s Civil Hospital in Kangra district. As per information, a few days ago drug inspector Piar Chand Thakur had seized some 900 pairs of suspicious gloves from the store of the Nurpur Civil Hospital. After an inquiry, he found that these gloves supplied to the hospital were repackaged. Thakur told The Tribune today that after conducting a preliminary investigation, he raided a house at Jassur and found two jeeps loaded with 180 packets containing 90,000 pairs of gloves ready for dispatch.

“The consignment was seized and jeeps were impounded. Fake packaging material, rubber and metal stamps and some raw material was also seized from the house where the gloves were allegedly being repackaged,” he added. The drug inspector said a case under Section 18 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act had been registered against the accused, identified as Rajesh Sharma, alias Gulabo, of Jassur.

Thakur said the accused had claimed to procure packaging material from Panipat and raw material from Ahmedabad and Delhi. The gloves were being supplied to the Health Department institutions for the past two-three years, he said. He said the seized gloves were packaged under name ‘Safe Hand’, stamped with fake batch numbers and no specific name of the manufacturer had been printed on the packets.

The drug inspector said after collecting evidence, the case could also be forwarded to the police for registration of a forgery case.