Yet another illegal factory, which had been manufacturing fake saline under the ICDDRB tag, was busted in the capital’s North Badda yesterday by a mobile court.
The factory was sealed off and five people, including the owner, were sentenced to jail of different terms along with fines.
The incident comes 17 days after another such factory was sealed off in the capital’s Babubazar.
The mobile court, led by executive magistrate AHM Anwar Pasha who was accompanied by Rapid Action Battalion personnel and drug administration officials, raided the factory set up in a tin-shed house at Abdullahbagh of Satarkul in North Badda around 11am.
The magistrate said that apart from sealing off the factory during the three-hour drive, over 20,000 packets of low-quality saline were seized.
Md Abdul Siddiq, owner of the factory and a former employee of ICDDRB, was sentenced to prison for two years. The 35-year-old was also fined Tk100,000 and would have to serve another three months upon failure to pay the money.
His brother Nabin Khan, who had been overseeing the marketing section, was jailed for a year. Like Abdul Siddiq, he received a monetary penalty of Tk100,000 and another three-month term, provided he fails to pay the fine.
Apart from the two, three of their employees – Kabir Hossain, Md Swapan and Masud Akand – were fined Tk10,000 each and a one-month jail term in default of payment of the fine.
Law enforcers found the workers manufacturing saline in an unhygienic environment using raw materials that are perilous to human health. The factory authorities chose the substandard materials for saving cost and making extra sum.
Owner Siddiq admitted that he had been running the factory inside the tin-shed house, which would cost him Tk24,000 in monthly rent, for the last one year after leaving his job at ICDDRB.
“We would manufacture around 800 packets of fake saline every day using the label of ICDDRB,” he said.
The owner also said he had quit ICDDRB after acquiring knowledge of manufacture of saline. He said he would print fake ICDDRB labels in a press in Paltan.
Nabin said he approached some drugstores in Mitford, Khilgaon, Paltan and in some other areas and they would sell the fake product at discounted prices compared to the genuine ICDDRB saline.
“Those pharmacy owners were informed of the quality of our product,” the owner said.
Magistrate Anwar Pasha said that ICDDRB itself has no legal right to manufacture and market the saline as the institute had not obtained registration from the drug administration. He said employers’ association of ICDDRB manufacture the saline and market the products.
