From discovering illegal acts in Nghe An, cutting off the inter-provincial fake cough medicine production line
(Baonghean.vn) - By creating their own cough medicine formulas and then using the labels of reputable companies, these individuals created tens of thousands of fake medicine bottles to release into the Vietnamese pharmaceutical market. This "huge" fake medicine production line was exposed and caught by the Hoang Mai Town Police.
Through the work of grasping the situation, Hoang Mai town police discovered a ring with signs of criminal activities in production,Counterfeit goodsis a large quantity of medicine, supplied to a number of pharmacies in the northern and north central provinces. A special project was established to combat it.
During the investigation, the subjects frequently changed the location of the evidence, divided the goods into small pieces to sell on the market, and only contacted familiar contacts. At the same time, they used the cover of manufacturing and trading.functional foodto conceal a crime.
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| Fake cough medicine formula and label. Photo: Quynh Trang - Minh Khoi |
On August 21, the Special Task Force arrested Nguyen Huu Tien (born in 1983), residing in Quynh Di ward, Hoang Mai town, and Bui Quy Phuc (born in 1986), residing in Hai Duong city, Hai Duong province, for the act of manufacturing and trading in counterfeit medicine. Temporarily detained a shipment of goods including: 28 cardboard boxes containing 7,392 bottles of Pharcoter brand cough medicine with signs of counterfeiting and 86 cardboard boxes containing many types of Western medicine, functional foods, and medical masks without valid invoices or documents.
An urgent search at the private home of Nguyen Huu Tien resulted in the seizure of 15 boxes of Pharcoter branded medicine. The total number of medicines seized was 43 cardboard boxes containing 11,352 bottles of Pharcoter branded medicine.
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| Machines for producing fake drugs. Photo by Quynh Trang - Minh Khoi |
At the investigation agency, the subjects confessed: From around the end of May 2020, the two subjects agreed that Phuc would be responsible for finding the source of goods and Tien would be responsible for selling the goods. After that, Bui Quy Phuc hired printing of drug labels, purchased packaging, raw materials, and created the drug formula and ingredients himself. Finally, he sent them to a functional food manufacturing facility to be pressed into pills and packaged.
Bui Quy Phuc delivered to Nguyen Huu Tien 57 cardboard boxes with each bottle of medicine costing 45,000 VND (total value of the shipment was over 700 million VND). Nguyen Huu Tien sold the above medicine to 7 pharmacies in Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Ha Giang provinces and Hanoi at 55,000 VND/bottle.
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| 3 subjects at the investigation agency. Photo: Quynh Trang - Minh Khoi |
Expanding the investigation, the Task Force arrested Vu Tien (born in 1986), residing in Hai Duong City, and searched the subject's production facility. The Task Force seized 1 pill press, 1 grinder, 1 mixer, 1 granulator, and 1 drug dryer. The subject confessed that the facility specialized in manufacturing "medicines" and "functional foods" according to customer orders.
Currently, the investigation is continuing to expand. At the same time, the Investigation Police Agency of Hoang Mai Town is consolidating the case file to prosecute the subjects in accordance with the provisions of the law.