Illegal unit of fake Covid vaccine unearthed, 5 held

Varanasi: In a major breakthrough, the Varanasi field unit of Special Task Force (STF) of the UP Police unearthed an illegal manufacturing unit of fake vaccine of coronavirus and testing kits in Rohit Nagar of Lanka area on Wednesday.
The STF officials said, acting on a tip-off the police raided the place and recovered a huge quantity of fake vaccines and testing kits.The police also arrested five members of the inter-state gang.
The arrested persons were identified as Rakesh Thawani of Dhanshri Complex, Siddhgiribagh, Sandeep Sharma of Pathani Tola, Chowk, Lakshya Java of Malaviya Nagar, New Delhi, Shamsher of Ragpur Rasada, Ballia, and Arunesh Vishwakarma of Bauliya, Lahartara.
Vials of fake Covishield and Zycov-D with testing kits packed in several cartons along with packing machines, empty vials and swab sticks worth over Rs four crore were recovered.
Rakesh confessed that he along with his aides, including Sandeep, Arunesh and Shamsher, was involved in manufacturing fake vaccine and testing kits which were supplied to Lakshya, who further used to supply them to different states. Further investigation was in progress to identify and nab the other members of the gang.