Inter-state blood smuggling gang busted in Lucknow, 7 arrested

Uttar Pradesh (UP) STF has busted a Lucknow-based inter-state blood smuggling gang by arresting 7 people that were smuggling blood from Rajasthan to UP. The agents used to supply blood to hospitals and blood banks in the districts around Lucknow. According to the STF team, Mo Ammar and Ajit Dubey, owners of Blood Bank Midlife and Narayani Blood Bank, are involved in the smuggling. 302 units of blood, without any expiry date, have also been recovered.

The STF has claimed that the gang used to smuggle blood from Rajasthan to UP with fake documents. According to the ADF, seven persons were arrested from the Midlife Blood Bank of Thakurganj. Five of the arrested accused are from Lucknow, one from Kushinagar, and one from Unnao. Along with Mo Ammar and Ajit Dubey, the STF has arrested employee Rohit, technician Karan Mishra, technician Sandeep Kumar, and smugglers Asad and Naushad.

Blood was procured from the Churu bank, with the help of technicians at these blood banks. These blood bags were then bought for Rs 700–800. The sticker of Mishra Company was put on these blood bags. However, neither the name of the donor nor the name of the collector was on it. Even the expiry date was not recorded. Not only this, there was no arrangement for the blood bank to mention the required temperature in the cards. 

The officials of the Drugs Department conducted an inquiry based on the information and were informed that the blood banks were kept randomly. Neither the cold chain was maintained, nor the blood bags. A blood bag was labelled by the name of the bank itself, thus pointing out that it had been illegally smuggled.

The investigation also revealed that the connection of this blood business is not only prevalent in UP and Rajasthan but also in 5 other states including Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh. It has also come to the fore that the people associated with this gang used to sell platelets by separating them from the blood. The members of the gang used to mix saline water to double the blood after removing platelets from the blood. 

According to the investigation team, the gang also used to organise blood collection camps in UP, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi. They used to keep more than half of the blood collected within the camps. Then, according to demand, they used to supply it to the respective blood bank and state. The gang was not only operative in blood banks but also in hospitals and charged extra money for supply. During the interrogation of the gang members, it was revealed that they used to sell blood at two to three times the price. In private blood banks, the blood bags were being sold at the rate of five to ten thousand per unit through brokers.