The reason counterfeit drugs are still trusted by people, with transactions exceeding 200 billion VND.
The perpetrators added painkillers to the counterfeit drugs. When patients bought and took them, they immediately saw the effects, thus gaining trust and continuing to use them.
The Thanh Hoa Provincial Police have successfully dismantled a large-scale counterfeit medicine production and trading ring operating nationwide, arresting 14 individuals for the crime of "Producing and trading counterfeit medicines for disease prevention and treatment."
According to the Thanh Hoa Provincial Police, the reason these individuals were able to produce and sell such large quantities of counterfeit medicine on the market was because they exploited people's habit of self-prescribing medication and their lack of knowledge about the origin of the goods.
In particular, the target consumers are elderly people who want to buy and use medicines that treat bone and joint diseases, pain, numbness, and paralysis at an affordable price that suits their income.
In addition, these individuals exploit loopholes in state management of pharmaceutical business activities at drugstores and pharmacies to mix counterfeit drugs in.
One of the new methods used by these criminals is that, with regard to medications for bone and joint diseases, they don't counterfeit existing products circulating in the domestic and international markets. Instead, they create their own drug names and company names based abroad, mainly in Hong Kong (China), Malaysia, Singapore, etc., making it easy for consumers to be misled.
The individuals involved in the ring had close connections and collusion from production to finding distribution channels to bring counterfeit goods to the market. Under the guise of pharmacists from pharmaceutical companies, these individuals used social media platforms like Zalo and Facebook to advertise that they had "smuggled" antibiotics from legitimate companies or were running sales outside their designated areas without proper invoices, thus selling them at lower prices than genuine products.
Notably, counterfeit traditional Chinese medicine (for treating bone and joint diseases) contains high levels of painkillers, so patients experience immediate pain relief, leading them to believe in its effectiveness.
According to information from the Thanh Hoa Provincial Police, the individuals involved in producing and selling counterfeit medicine purchased raw materials such as starches, binders, pharmaceutical additives, bamboo charcoal, and coloring agents to mix and package them as medicine.
In particular, the group of counterfeit traditional Chinese medicines used to treat bone and joint diseases that were seized by authorities showed initial test results indicating they contained high levels of painkillers.
Regarding the counterfeit Western medicines, no harmful medicinal properties have been detected, but they lack the antibiotic properties to treat diseases as indicated in the instructions printed on the packaging.
During searches of six locations in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and the provinces of Vinh Phuc, Hung Yen, An Giang, and Dong Thap, which served as production and work sites for the suspects, the police seized 21 types of counterfeit pharmaceuticals and musculoskeletal medications, totaling tens of thousands of boxes. The total amount of money transacted by the suspects in the counterfeit drug trade was approximately 200 billion VND.
