The CBI has alerted the police in all the states and Union territories and other law-enforcement agencies about an Interpol input warning about racketeers selling fake hand sanitiser manufactured using the highly-toxic methanol.
New Delhi, June 15:
The Central Bureau of Investigation has alerted all Central and state law enforcement agencies against highly toxic methanol-based hand sanitisers which they say “can be dangerous to the human body”.
Due to the growing demand of hand sanitisers amid increasing cases of coronavirus in the country, CBI fears few companies may start producing counterfeit hand sanitisers using methanol. CBI expressed concern after receiving relevant inputs from the Interpol.
According to the alert issued, the Interpol has found instances in some countries where cases of use of methanol in spurious hand sanitisers have been reported.
“Instances have been reported in other countries were due to huge demand for hand sanitisers during Covid-19 pandemic, the use of methanol was detected to produce counterfeit hand sanitisers. Methanol can be highly toxic and dangerous for the human body,” reads the alert.
The agency has also issued an alert about a massive surge of online advance payment scams. According to CBI, such scams involve “instances of criminals approaching as vendors of PPE and other protective equipment suppliers related to Covid-19 pandemic and entering business transactions with clients online.”
“After receipt of payment via bank transfers, the fraudulent vendors do not make any delivery of items,” the agency said.
