Covid-19: 3 Arrested In India For Repainting And Selling Fire Extinguishers As Oxygen Cylinders Amid Second Wave
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 was di