Coronavirus in Mumbai: Man held for black-marketing of N-95 masks worth Rs 27 lakh in Worli

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The crime branch has arrested a 36-year-old man from Worli in Central Mumbai for selling duplicate N-95 masks in the black market, a police official said on Friday.

The accused was identified as Riyaz Ahmed Rais Ahmed Khan, a resident of Shivajinagar, he said. Acting on a tip-off, unit-3 of the crime branch intercepted a tempo on Thursday evening and seized around 18,000 N-95 masks worth Rs 27 lakh, the official said. Khan, who was traveling in the tempo, was arrested, he said, adding that probe was underway.

Earlier on August 4, a man was arrested for selling Tocilizumab injection, used for treating critically ill coronavirus patients, in black market at three times its printed price.

Azam Nasir Khan (30), a resident of Kashipur in Uttarakhand, was selling the injection for as much as Rs one lakh, said an official of the Mumbai police’s Crime Branch. He was suspected to be part of an inter-state racket, the official added.

Tocilizumab is administered when the oxygen level of a COVID-19 patient goes down, he said. Unit 9 of the Crime Branch had received information that some persons were selling `Tocilizumab injection, Actemra 400 mg” without medical prescription at inflated prices in suburban Bandra, he said.

A trap was set by a team of Crime Branch and Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) officials and Khan was nabbed, he said. The police seized 15 injections from his possession, the official said. The owner of a medical store in Delhi had given him the injections, he told the police. A court here remanded Khan in police custody till August 7 and further probe was on, the official said.