Drugs worth ₹6 crore have been seized and four persons were taken into custody for running an inter-State racket involved in the sale of counterfeit medicines, including life-saving drugs, in north Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar, the police said on Thursday.

The accused allegedly procured medicines from government hospitals in Uttar Pradesh, repackaged them and even illegally manufactured some drugs before supplying them across Delhi-NCR, parts of the Northeast, and Myanmar, they said. Delhi Police’s Crime Branch constituted a team following a tip-off and the arrests were made between April 23-29, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Pankaj Kumar Singh said.

The officer said an investigation is under way to ascertain where the raw materials used for packaging and sealing were procured from, who the counterfeit medicines were sold to, and whether more people were involved in the network. Mr. Singh said some medicines, including anti-rabies vaccines and anti-venom drugs, require strict temperature-controlled storage. By the time these drugs reached consumers, the cold chain would have been broken, making them expired and dangerous. These medicines were being sold to medical stores and appeared no different from genuine drugs, the officer said.

The counterfeit medicines seized from the manufacturing and repackaging unit included drugs used for the treatment of asthma, allergies, urinary tract infections, respiratory infections, snakebite poisoning, rabies, and liver and kidney cancers, among others. Investigation revealed that kingpin Manoj Kumar Jain, 56, procured medicines meant exclusively for government hospitals and dispensaries with the help of associates.