Malappuram:A private lab in Kerala has allegedly cheated a large number of people, mostly those travelling to the Middle East and other countries, by issuing 'fake' COVID-19 negative certificates without testing their samples, and its manager has been arrested on Tuesday, police said.
The fraud came to light as several expatriates were found positive for COVID-19 on arrival in Saudi Arabia despite them holding the negative test certificates issued by the Arma Lab in Valancherry in this district, a franchise of a Kozhikode-based ICMR-approved reputed laboratory.
The Arma Lab allegedly cheated around 2,000 people in the past few months by using 'fake' letterheads of its parent lab for issuing the negative certificates, police said.
As per the agreement, the franchise has been designated as an agency to collect samples and send them for testing to the Kozhikode-based laboratory, authorised to issue the COVID-19 certificates.
Police said that the officials of Arma lab authorities, who had allegedly collected 2,500 samples in the past few months, did not send all of them to the Kozhikode laboratory for testing.
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"Instead they had sent only about 500 samples for testing and issued fake COVID-19 negative certificates in about 2,000 cases. The Arma Lab authorities made 'fake' letterheads of the Kozhikode laboratory and issued the COVID-19 certificates," police said.
It allegedly charged up to Rs 2,750 for each test and had collected between Rs 40 lakh to Rs 45 lakh, they said.