Indian woman, 2 Egyptians and a Bangladeshi held with huge quantity of ‘fake’ medicines – Maj-Gen Al-Awadi warns against buying meds online

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Some of the counterfeit medicines seized from the four people.
Some of the counterfeit medicines seized from the four people.

KUWAIT CITY, April 9: An Indian woman was arrested along with two Egyptian men and a Bangladeshi for selling and possessing a huge quantity of fake medicines.

According to the Public Relations and Security Media Department of Ministry of Interior, the two Egyptian suspects were initially arrested for selling medicines at low prices. After securitymen sent the medicines to the concerned authority in Ministry of Health for testing, it was confirmed that the medicines are fake and their misuse can even lead to death. During interrogations, one of the Egyptian suspects confessed that he bought the medicines from a Bangladeshi expatriate.

Using the details given by the Egyptian suspect, securitymen arrested the Bangladeshi. The latter confessed that he works for an Indian woman who manages a network of hawkers for selling the medicines and that she stores the medicines in a store in Souk Mubarakiya.

Securitymen rushed to the location, arrested the Indian woman and confiscated nearly 500,000 pills and medicines, some of which are banned in Kuwait because they contain dangerous chemical substances. The Public Relations and Security Media Department affirmed that Ministry of Health has banned such medicines because their misuse can lead to dangerous repercussions such as death. It stressed that the medicines have been classified and referred to the Forgery Unit of the General Department for Criminal Evidences for examination. The arrested suspects have been referred to the concerned authorities for necessary legal action against them.

Identify
Regarding this issue, Assistant Undersecretary for Criminal Security Affairs at Ministry of Interior Major General Abdulhameed Al- Awadi affirmed that a comprehensive investigation will be opened to identify ways by which such large quantities of fake or banned medicines are illegally smuggled into the country.

Following the arrest of the Egyptian suspects, Major General Al-Awadi issued a press statement in which he reiterated that the investigation will focus on identifying the way these medicines were smuggled into the country especially since they are hazardous to public health. He explained that people who used these medicines have suffered from serious health issues and some even died.

These medicines were smuggled illegally because they did not meet the relevant conditions and regulations allotted by the state in this regard. For example, medicines of such kind are supposed to be stored under certain temperatures. However, the confiscated medicines were stored in a badly- maintained area under inappropriate atmosphere.

Major General Al-Awadi warned Kuwaiti citizens and expatriates against buying medicines online, urging them to buy from accredited pharmacies. Meanwhile, Dr Alaa Al- Ghamis, an inspector from the Medicine Inspection Department of Ministry of Health said in a press statement that use of such fake medicines will lead to health complications and even death.

He explained that the confiscated medicines were tested to discover they do not meet the specifications allotted in this regard. Some of the products have labels claiming they are herbal medicines but they are made with chemical substances that have dangerous impacts on the health of the users. Dr Al-Ghamis revealed that an individual had died earlier because of the use of such fake medicines, which was discovered at the time of post-mortem of the corpse.

Meanwhile, KUNA reported that counterfeit medicines are those that do not match the description on the label of the containers that hold them. They may be contaminated or may contain the wrong active ingredients, the correct active ingredient in wrong amounts or no active ingredients at all.

Counterfeits may also be out-of-date drugs that have been repackaged with new expiration dates. Drugs can also be considered counterfeit if they contain the right ingredients in the right amounts but are not made by the manufacturer described on the label. All kinds of medicines can be counterfeited including prescription and nonprescription medicines.

By Munaif Nayef Al-Seyassah Staff

This news has been read 8840 times!

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