Unscrupulous elements are playing with the trust of panicky buyers and making a killing in their bid to make overnight profits. On Friday, as Coronavirus infection cases continued to spiral in Delhi-NCR, the Union government notified that face masks and hand sanitisers were “essential” commodities.

This was just one of the measures meant to contain hoarding or overpricing of these items. Less than 24 hours after this, a district administration team sealed an unlicensed unit in Noida’s Sector 63 where spurious hand sanitisers were being packaged in bottles.

Officials said more than 10,000 bottles of such sanitisers were found in 50 cartons at the site, along with inferior-quality masks – ready for entry into the National Capital.

A complaint in this regard was filed at the Phase 3 police station under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 and four accused were arrested, the police said. As the Capital recorded its first and the country’s second death owing to Covid-19, illegal factories such as the one in Noida – making spurious sanitisers and masks – have mushroomed in Delhi-NCR.

These fakes have filled the gap created by the shortage of products by established brands at chemist shops, malls and other retail outlets.