73,000 fake N95 facemasks seized in Pune

POLICEAdding one more feather to its crown, the crime branch officials of Pune police seized over 73,000 fake N95 facemasks from two different warehouses in Pune on Wednesday.

Two persons viz. Rajesh Sampatrao Narayankar, 24, and Anmol Eknath Murgud, 19, has also been arrested by the police in this connection.

The police have booked both of them under Sections of the Copy Rights Act and the Intellectual Property Rights Act.

The police conducted the raid after information from a US N95 manufacturing Company, 3M.

The officials of Crime branch police were accompanied by a team of Enforcers of Intellectual Property Rights (EIPR).

Notably, 3M is one of the leading producers of H1N1 (swine flu) masks in the world.

Speaking with the reporters, DCP Sunil Kubare said: “Acting on a tip off, we raided the godown of the company. In search operation, we found masks worth 70, 000 rupees. About 73, 000 masks were recovered. Company officials have confirmed that all the recovered facemasks are fake. Duplicate trademark was made on these marks and were being sold in the Pune on a large scale.”