A mobile court of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) yesterday seized “not-for-sale” medicines and adulterated cancer drugs worth around Tk 1 crore and sent two persons to jail in a drive at Dhaka's College Gate area.

The seized medicines are allocated by the government to be used for state-run hospitals -- National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedic Rehabilitation and National Institute of Cardio-vascular Diseases -- and are not for sale, said Rab Executive Magistrate Sarwoer Alam, who led the drive.

“But those were being illegally sold at different pharmacies and they have been doing this for several years with the help of some syndicates at these hospitals,” he added.

Three pharmacies -- Royal Medical Pharma, Narsingdi Pharma and Hamida Pharmacy, a house, and three warehouses were sealed off during the drive.

Mahmud, manager of Hamida Pharmacy, was sentenced to two years in jail and Rafikul, owner of Royal Medical Pharma, was given one year in jail. Two others were on the run, the executive magistrate said.

During the drive, adulterated cancer drugs were also recovered from Narsingdi Pharma.

The drive led by Bangladesh Drug Administration and Rab-2, started at 11am and was still going on till filing of this report at 10:30pm.