Manufacturer held in drive; Rab tells of over 150 such units in Dhaka, outskirts; some doctors said to be linked with unholy trade
The package made of glossy paper is very colourful. It reads ‘SIRIO Nutrition OS Gold…15 Softgels…Dietary Supplement’.
It says the packet contains capsules of multi-vitamin and minerals for children and pregnant women. In smaller print it says the medicine is made by Sirio Pharma Co. Ltd of China and imported and distributed by SA Trading, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The box says very clearly that each capsule contains 10 vitamins and six minerals among other necessary ingredients. The label of the package also makes a good argument on why one should take the capsules in order to have good health.
There is even a warning that all drugs should be kept out of the reach of children.
It is all very convincing to customers.
But little do they know that the capsules are made in a filthy 110-square-foot room at South Monipur of Mirpur. And they are made by two young men barely in their 20’s with no educational qualification or sense of hygiene. The customers do not know that they use their bare hands to make the capsules with a portable machine set up next to the door of a toilet.
A mobile court busted the factory yesterday.
Workers Milon Bhuiyan, 20, and Sohel Roy, 21, secretly make the capsules in the room for just Tk 3,500 a month. They work for a company named SA Trading, which has no approval from any government organ. The owner of the company has been captured.
The so-called company has been making the capsules along with other ‘dietary supplements’ and ‘sex stimulation’ capsules for more than two years and selling them to wholesalers and pharmacies across Bangladesh.
The mobile court, backed by Rapid Action Battalion, and in association with the Directorate General of Drug Administration and BSTI unearthed the ‘medicine’ manufacturer yesterday.
In an eight-hour-long drive, they recovered 20 lakh capsules from a nearby warehouse and packaging room. Keeping some for evidence, the court destroyed the rest.
They arrested Tazul Islam, ‘chief executive officer’ of SA Trading, and his wife Nadira Islam, ‘marketing and finance director’ of the company, from their home.
The court fined them Tk 3 lakh and sentenced Tazul to one year’s imprisonment.
The drive came a day after the High Court directed testing samples of all medicines available in the market.
Tazul is not the only person making the capsules, more than 100 people are making and marketing the capsules across the country, claimed Tazul.
Rab sources said they are now aware of about 150 such factories in Dhaka city alone, which make drugs this way and sell them in the market. They said they will be on to them.
Magistrate Anwar Pasha of the court said this sort of drugs is available in most pharmacies in Bangladesh.
On information that people are being cheated with these ‘medicines’, the intelligence wing of Rab carried out an investigation and found a number of such unauthorised manufactures in and outside the capital, he said.
He said they conducted a drive in Amin Bazar Wednesday and found a number of such factories.
They have not examined the ingredients and capsules yet, he added.
Anwar blamed a nexus of manufactures, a section of doctors and medical representative for this menace.
“Some unscrupulous doctors especially those working at the outdoor sections of public hospitals and their private chambers are prescribing these medicines as they are getting a handsome amount of money from medical representatives for prescribing them,” a Rab official requesting anonymity said.
Rab officials said they have many prescriptions from doctors giving patients these ‘drugs’.
They also said SA Trading illegally buys the empty capsule gelatine from the lone factory in Bangladesh at a higher price.
Talking to The Daily Star Tazul claimed he imports the ingredients from China and sells the ingredients to some wholesalers across the country apart from manufacturing them in his so-called factory.
He said he has been making vitamin, protein, calcium and sex stimulation capsules since March 2008 inside his two-room flat, which is also his office and home. The couple actually live in the very room the capsules are made.
He said it costs him Tk 20-25 to make 30 capsules and he sells them for Tk 50-120 to wholesalers. However, the maximum retail price printed on the label is between Tk 370-500.
“These medicines are of good quality and I did not receive any complaint from anybody,” he claimed.
“We can produce 300 capsules within four to five minutes with the machine,” said worker Milon, adding, “Each of us produces 10,000 to 12,000 capsules a day.”
Milon and Sohel told The Daily Star that they had been making the capsules for the last two months. They said Tazul showed them how to make the capsules one day and the two have been making them since.
Shafiqul Islam, medicine superintendent of DGDA, said Tazul failed to produce any documents during the drive.
“Tazul has no approval to manufacture or sell the medicines or even to import the ingredients,” he said.
BSTI officials said the manufacturers do not have any approval from them and the so-called company do not use its address on the packages.
Rezaul Hayat, a medical representative, who was inside the house during the drive, said representatives working for SA Trading earn Tk 20,000-25,000 a month.
