Muzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh), Nov 24 (IANS): The Muzaffarnagar police have arrested three members of a gang that was making and selling fake protein powder after sticking labels of top US and European brands on them.

One of the accused is absconding.

Abhishek Yadav, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Muzaffarnagar, said, "We were getting regular inputs about the activity of the gang. Our crime branch teams silently worked on getting enough details before raiding multiple locations in the district.

"We have recovered 1.5 lakh labels, hundreds of kgs of fake protein supplement in 572 containers with stickers of renowned firms like 'Universal', a US-based company. Over 9,500 empty bottles and boxes, 28 sacks of carbohydrate powder, hundreds of prohibited drugs and steroids were also recovered."

The raids were carried out at multiple locations on Monday.

Police are questioning the three arrested accused -- Zubair Alam, Arsi and Amil -- to know more about the racket.

"The supply chain is spread wide and deep. It goes to various states, including Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi," the police officer said.

Talking about the ill-effects of fake supplements, he said, "These supplements have high proportions of anabolic steroids like Deca Durabolin, testosterone, androsterone, etc., which immediately and substantially increase muscle mass and athletic power and are banned all over the world particularly in sports.

The presence of these substances can only be traced through urine examination. The abuse of these drugs also leads to kidney ailments and impotency. However, these relatively cheap and fake products are being increasingly used by those who frequent gyms.

According to a study CASCADE (Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy) in 2015, roughly 1/5th of all the packaged food in the market could be counterfeit, posing a serious threat to health.