Covid-19: 3 Arrested In India For Repainting And Selling Fire Extinguishers As Oxygen Cylinders Amid Second Wave
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Police arrested three people in India earlier this month for allegedly repainting fire extinguishers to look like oxygen cylinders and selling them to family members of COVID-19 patients, the Times of India reported. In a police investigation, the accused scammers admitted they had already sold “many” of the fake canisters for about $180 each, police told the Times of India. As The New York Times reported, fire extinguishers could explode if filled with high-pressure oxygen. “This guy should be charged with homicide,” Mukesh Khanna, a local charity volunteer who filed a police complaint about the scammers, told the Times. “He was playing with lives.” India is facing a severe medical oxygen shortage as it battles a devastating second COVID-19 wave, leaving desperate family members to source their own oxygen canisters for their infected loved ones. Last month, relatives of COVID-19 patients resorted to stealing oxygen cylinders from a hospital. The alleged fire extinguisher scam wa...