New Delhi, May 13 : After the directives from the Delhi High Court to combat the use of spurious oxytocin in dairy colonies across the national capital recently, the city police and the Drug Control Department conducted a joint raid, busting an illegal manufacturing unit and apprehending its owner, an official said on Sunday.

The accused was identified as Praveen Kumar, who indulged in the illegal manufacturing of veterinary oxytocin injections for the past six months without the requisite license.

"The premises were found stocked with various materials used in the manufacturing process, including empty plastic bottles, crimp caps, sealing machines, and raw materials for oxytocin preparation," the official added.

The oxytocin veterinary injection is a restricted drug indicated for obstetrical use in cows, sheep, and horses. However, it is widely misused in milch animals to increase milk production, especially in dairies.

According to the Delhi government's Drug Control Department, on Saturday, acting on the intelligence provided by the Station House Officer (SHO), Bhalswa Dairy police station, was tipped off about illegal manufacturing activities concerning oxytocin.

"A joint team of Drug Control Department and the Delhi Police conducted a raid at the premises in Swaroop Nagar area and uncovered a clandestine operation of manufacturing of oxytocin veterinary injection by the accused Praveen Kumar," said a senior Drug Control Department official.

The accused also failed to produce any valid drug license or purchase records for the materials used in manufacturing.

"He (the accused) used to manufacture this preparation from a concentrated solution and manually fill in plastic bottles after dilution. These plastic bottles used to be manually sealed with the help of a crimping machine. It was also revealed that the illegal oxytocin was being supplied to various dairy farms without proper documentation. He used to get this oxytocin-concentrated solution from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh as disclosed by him," the official added.

In the course of the operation, samples of the illicitly manufactured oxytocin were collected for further testing/analysis as per the Drugs and Cosmetics Act,1940.

"Additionally, a significant amount of oxytocin preparation, along with manufacturing equipment and materials, were seized by the authorities," said the official.

/IANS