PETALING JAYA: A total of RM3.15mil worth of unregistered pharmaceutical products were seized in Malaysia, as part of an international operation coordinated by Interpol.
“Overall, a total of 130,678 unregistered pharmaceutical products worth RM3.15mil were seized throughout the two-week operation, dubbed Operation Pangea XVIII.
“A total of 2,294 links selling such illegal products, involving e-commerce platforms, websites, the dark web and social media accounts were blocked and taken down,” said the Health Ministry in a statement on Friday (June 12).
It said this was to prevent the public from buying pharmaceutical products which were not registered, counterfeit or falsified.
The effort, involving 90 countries including Malaysia, was to crack down on the sale and distribution of unregistered, substandard and falsified pharmaceutical products.
Held from March 10 to 23, Malaysian and international enforcement agencies succeeded in seizing 6.42 million units of unapproved products, estimated to be worth a total of US$15.5mil (RM62.9mil).
“In Malaysia, the operation was coordinated by the Pharmacy Enforcement Division of the Health Ministry, in cooperation with enforcement agencies like the police, Royal Malaysian Customs Department, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission and CyberSecurity Malaysia’s digital information analysis unit,” the ministry said.
Through collaboration with the Customs Department, a total of 497 parcels sent by post were checked, of which 49 were found to contain unregistered pharmaceutical products.
“The value of the seizure was RM766,721.
“Aside from that, checks were also done on passenger baggage, whereby 3,210 units of products were seized with a total value of RM11,843,” the ministry said.
The most common type of product seized at postal hubs were health supplements, traditional products, counterfeit medication and controlled drugs which were unregistered.
“This shows that there is a rising trend in purchasing unverified health supplements and products from other countries.
“Most of the products are brought in from India, Vietnam, China, Bangladesh and Indonesia,” the ministry said.
The ministry’s Pharmacy Enforcement Division had also conducted raids on sellers and business premises involved in selling unregistered pharmaceutical products online.
“A total of 65 premises were raided with 93,861 units (RM2.39mil) of unapproved products being seized,” it said.
Top products seized were anti-parasite drugs, antibiotics, anti-allergy and herbal products.
