Customs officers on Wednesday said they arrested two people after they discovered an illegal storage warehouse in Sheung Shui for what they suspected were controlled pharmaceutical products that were being smuggled into the SAR.

Among the 400,000 pharmaceutical items seized, a majority of them were products to enhance virility.

They had an estimated market value of about HK$11 million.

Investigator Woo Suet-yi, from the Syndicate Crimes Investigation Bureau, said officers also found packaging tools and a large number of paper boxes, which they believe were used for packaging and storage before the pills were smuggled to other places.

“We believe a majority of the suspected controlled pharmaceutical products were from South Asia. As for exactly which regions or countries are they from, we are still investigating,” she said.

“We believe that for now, we have already intercepted the relevant (suspected) controlled pharmaceutical products at source, and none of them have entered the market.”

Woo also said that most of the packaging stated that they contained Part 1 poisons, meaning that the import and export, as well as storage for relevant controlled pharmaceutical products, are subject to strict regulations.

She did not rule out the possibility of further arrests.

Senior pharmacist Chan Hon-wah, from the Department of Health, warned that the public faced health risks if they purchased drugs from unknown sources or through illegal means.

Pharmaceutical products that contain Part 1 poisons and prescription drugs can only be taken under a doctor’s supervision, he added.



Edited by Tony Sabine