Sleuths of the Hyderabad Police Commissioner’s Task Force, West Zone team, conducted raids in the city and recovered 1,500 bottles of Oxytocin, banned by the government for veterinary use.
The raids were conducted at a shop near Jet Café in Mallepallly and at Ismail Nagar in Bandlaguda.
The two accused were identified as Shaik Abdul Khaled and B Suresh Kumar Gupta, who were found in the possession of Oxytocin and were allegedly selling the same.
The police said that they seized liquid Oxytocin bottles, Oxytocin injections and bottles of Phenol I.P. (Carbolic Acid), besides sealing machines, and empty bottles with caps.
Explaining their modus operandi, the police said that, "In the year 2001, Shaik Abdul Khaled started a business of supplying surgical items in Hyderabad. He used to purchase surgical items from the market at Koti and was supplying the same to hospitals, medical shops etc., on commission basis. At that time, he was also supplying Oxytocin samples to needy customers. In the year 2003, the government banned the manufacture and sale of the substance for veterinary use."
In 2009, the accused started his own business and began supplying generic medicines and surgical items. In 2015, he came into contact with one person who informed him that he was supplying Oxytocin injection bottles in Hyderabad illegally.
Following this, Shaik Abdul Khaled would purchase one bottle for Rs 25 and sell the same for Rs 50 per bottle. He was also selling it to Suresh Kumar Gupta, as the latter was running a cattle feed shop business.
The police said that the accused were repeat offenders as Shaik was also arrested in 2016 by the Madannapet police once, while he and Suresh were arrested by the Begum Bazar police after that.
After their release from jail, both the accused once again hatched a plan to sell Oxytocin to dairy farms to earn easy money and began selling each bottle for Rs 80, until they were raided by the Task Force on Tuesday.
"Oxytocin helps cattle to produce more milk, but has severely harmful effects on not just the health of the animals, but humans who consume milk that comes from them. It also reduces the life span of cattle," the police said in a press release.
"If the practice of administering injections twice a day continues, the drug stays in the milk and causes serious ailments like breast cancer and prostate cancer, and also impotency in men. Oxytocin or growth hormones can lead to disruption of the endocrine system, which would lead to cases of gynaecomastia (breast enlargement) in male and weight gain and pubertal disturbance in girls," the police added.
The use of the drug for veterinary use without a prescription from a registered medical practitioner is banned under The Drugs and Cosmetics Act-1940.
Image credit: Urine Drug Test HQ