Maharashtra Police bust racket of reselling used gloves

The Navi Mumbai Crime Branch arrested a man for allegedly cleaning and selling used medical gloves collected from hospitals amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Four lakh pairs of used handgloves worth Rs 6.1 lakh were also seized.

Thane (Maharashtra): The Crime Branch of Navi Mumbai police have busted a racket of used medical gloves being collected from hospitals to be resold amid the COVID-19 pandemic, an official said on Thursday.

Acting on a tip-off, the police on Monday evening conducted a raid in Pawne MIDC, where they found that used gloves collected from hospitals were being washed, dried and packaged to be sold in the market, the official said.

Liquid soaps and washing machines were used to clean used gloves, he said, adding that 4 lakh pairs of such disposable gloves worth Rs 6.10 lakh were seized from the premises.

The police have arrested Prashant Surve, a resident of CBD Belapur, under sections 420 (cheating), 270 (malignant act likely to spread infectious disease), among the other relevant sections of the IPC, the official said.

Further probe is underway to find the source of these gloves and where they were being sold, the official said.

(With inputs from agencies)