At the time crisis when due to the coronavirus pandemic the people of the Maharashtra the worst hit state of the country is struggling to complete it's demand of mask the Mumbai crime branch has seized a huge stock of masks on Tuesday morning. During the raid 25 lakh masks worth of Rs 15 crore have been seized by the Mumbai crime branch unit 9.
According to the state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh who visited the Bandra crime branch unit soon after the raids brief the media, "Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh received an information that a huge quantity of masks have been hoarded by the agents, acting on the tip-off senior police inspector of the unit 9, Mahesh Desai started bargained with the agents and later raided their godowns," he said.
"The seized quantity is enough to fulfill city's and state's demands," he added
After the initial preliminary verification the team from crime branch unit 9 conducted raids near Mumbai airport and in Bhivandi. "So far we have arrested four people and looking for two more accused, the accused have boon booked under the sections 3 and 7 of the Essential Comodities act," said crime branch Deputy Commissioner of Police, Akbar Pathan
Out of the 25 lakh mask almost 3.25 lakh masks are N95 masks which are recommended by the experts for preventing against the virus. However, after the the spread of coronavirus demand for the masks shoot up and shops were ran out of the masks since the hoarding and black marketing were started.
The state's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently banned the sale of the N95 respirators without prescriptions after the government received complaints hoarding and panicky buying by the people.
