Police raids in Turkey and China find fake medicines
The seized drugs claimed to be for treating cancer, as well as colds and flu and heart problems
Police in Turkey and China have been cracking down on vendors of fake medicines during December.
Istanbul police raided an organised crime gang that had been selling counterfeit cancer drugs in Turkey and abroad, in an operation carried out in nine separate cities.
Meanwhile, Chinese police have rounded up more than 1,300 people nationwide suspected of producing and selling fake medicine, according to state media.
The Turkish gang had been manufacturing the counterfeit drugs and selling them to both domestic and foreign health institutions, including in the US.
The police operation started on 10 December in around 130 places across nine cities, resulting in the detention of 56 suspects.
Some 37 suspects were detained in Istanbul and later sent to the Police General Directorate for questioning. Those detained in other cities were also expected to be brought to Istanbul.
As part of the crackdown, police raided a printing house in the Bağcılar district, where gang members had been printing the box and the leaflets of the counterfeit drugs. Fake passports and a gun were found at the printing house and seized, according to the Cihan news agency.
The gang was packaging drugs that were out of their use-by date and reselling them as if they were new; they had also manufactured counterfeit versions of around 30 drugs, among them cancer treatments, which had been used by 95 patients.
Five hospital workers who were allegedly acting as suppliers of the counterfeit drugs have been detained in Istanbul, and police are searching for two doctors believed to have also been involved.
The gang was exposed following scrutiny of the fake drugs’ packaging by a nurse at Şişli Etfal Education and Research Hospital. After the nurse realised that the contents differed slightly from the original, she was prompted to follow up the licensing of the drug. The expiration date of the drug had been recorded as 2013, while the packaging showed 2014. The drug was sent to the manufacturer, where it was identified as counterfeit.
The gang was packaging drugs that were out of their use-by date and reselling them as if they were new
In China, police seized fake drugs and nine tonnes of raw materials worth more than 2.2bn yuan (£220m), said the Xinhua state news agency, citing the Ministry of Public Security. It said that in the crackdown police had shut down 140 illegal websites and online pharmacies in 29 provinces and major cities since June.
The seized drugs purported to treat illnesses ranging from children's colds and flu to heart problems, and had been advertised online.
In July, the state food and drug administration announced a six-month nationwide crackdown on the sale of illegal medicine.
Widespread counterfeit drugs and false advertising have been a thorn in the side of Chinese regulators for years, and the drug agency has conducted campaigns in the past to crack down.
Prosecutions for producing or selling fake drugs or toxic food jumped to more than 8,000 in 2012, more than five times the number in 2011, according to a report by China's top prosecutor in March.
Beijing pledged to clean up the medicine sector following the deaths of at least 149 US citizens who took contaminated Chinese supplies of the blood-thinner heparin in 2008. However, the country's complicated and still developing regulatory environment has thwarted efforts to tackle the problem.
