Rs 4.91 Crore Fake Drug Repacking Racket Busted at Bidadi Farmhouse

The Karnataka Food Safety and Drugs Administration's Drug Enforcement Wing has busted an illegal pharmaceutical repacking and relabelling operation at a farmhouse in Kurubarakerana Halli, Bidadi, in Bengaluru South district. Acting on an August 18 tip-off, officials raided the unlicensed facility and seized stock and machinery valued at approximately Rs 4.91 crore.

Investigators found that the facility procured cheaper medicines from other states, including Himachal Pradesh and Telangana, and transferred them into new vials before applying forged labels to mimic costly multinational and imported drug brands. Several seized products were confirmed to be fake drugs that carried non-functional scanning codes and risked containing incorrect ingredients or harmful substances.

The seized items included 5,640 vials of CEFIAVIGENT 2.5 1 Injection worth Rs 3.38 crore, 1,531 vials of HIZLAM Injectables valued at Rs 52.24 lakh, and 470 vials of Xavitaz injection worth Rs 27.49 lakh. Officials also recovered 264 vials of EMBLAVEO bearing the Pfizer Limited name valued at Rs 20.59 lakh, 165 vials of Zavicefta injection worth Rs 5.45 lakh, and 30 boxes of expired medicines worth Rs 35 lakh.

Other seized stocks included TIGYNT IV, Tigvnet, Aztreo, and Trezam injections. Alongside the drugs, authorities confiscated injection-filling machinery, industrial equipment, stoppers, caps, packaging supplies, and printing materials used for creating counterfeit labels and stamps.

Karnataka Health Minister UT Khader stated that the operation was part of a nationwide network. According to the minister, the farmhouse was owned by an individual named Siddaiah, who leased it to Prashant, whose relative Tejas operated the illegal setup. The primary accused orchestrating the racket is believed to be living in Dubai.

The operation violated multiple provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, regarding the unlicensed manufacture, storage, and distribution of medicines. The presence of expired drugs sparked concerns that degraded pharmaceuticals were being pushed back into the healthcare supply chain.

To prevent further distribution, the Karnataka FDA blocked the batch numbers of the seized medicines on its state portal. Drug samples have been dispatched to laboratories to test their chemical composition, sterility, and potency. A police complaint has been lodged at Tavarekere Police Station, and the seized evidence will be presented before the JMFC court in Bengaluru South as joint investigations continue.