KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry seized more than RM5.2 million worth of unregistered pharmaceutical products between June 23 and July 1 under Operation Pangea XV.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham said the operation was coordinated by Interpol with the involvement of police, the Customs departments and health enforcement agencies from various regions to combat fake pharmaceuticals marketed and sold online.
In Malaysia, he said, the operation was led by the ministry's Pharmacy Enforcement Division (PED).
He said the National Central Bureau, Customs Department, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Pos Malaysia and CyberSecurity Malaysia assisted in the operation.
"Some 2,438 websites, including those from the dark web, were detected selling illegally pharmaceutical products worth RM2,652,500.
"These links had been banned by MCMC, while a list of links found on the dark web had been submitted to Interpol for further action," he said in a statement today.
Dr Noor Hisham said, based on this year's operation, there was an increase in the sale of controlled drugs, such as psychotropic substances, painkillers and antibiotics.
"In addition, 686 medical devices, such as face masks, thermometers, oximeters and blood pressure monitors, were sold online without Medical Devices Authority (MDA) approval."
Dr Noor Hisham said, during the same period, 1,059 parcels had been inspected, and 73 contained 315,916 units of unregistered pharmaceuticals worth RM887,024.
"Almost 70 per cent of the confiscated products were controlled drugs listed under the Poisons Act 1952.
"Of that amount, 90 per cent of the controlled drugs are under the psychotropic category. The rest are antibiotics, painkillers, flu medicines and other coughing medicines that are not registered.
"the majority of these controlled drugs were smuggled in from Bangladesh, India and other countries," he said.
He said the team also raided 75 premises, including residences, beauty salons and gymnasiums, that sold unregistered pharmaceutical products.
"During the raids, 244,299 items worth RM1,707,040 were seized.
"These raids targeted traditional slimming products that were mixed with sibutramine (a type of appetite suppressant)."
Dr Noor Hisham said controlled drugs, such as analgesics and antibiotics, as well as health supplements, vitamins and other traditional products that were not registered were also seized.
In a separate raid, he said, MDA had seized 26,400 rubber gloves and 94 unregistered Covid-19 RTK tests.
Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry kept a close watch on websites and social media platforms to curb the sale of controlled pharmaceutical products and unregistered medical devices outside the Pangea operation period.
"These enforcement activities are being carried out round the clock to ensure that all pharmaceutical, traditional and cosmetic products in the market are safe for use," he added.
He reminded consumers to always check whether the pharmaceutical products or medical devices they bought were registered with the Health Ministry.
The public, he said, could also file complaints via the Public Complaints Management System at https://moh.spab.gov.my.
Dr Noor Hisham said, since the operation also aimed at raising public awareness, PED and MDA had held 341 awareness campaigns.
He said these activities, such as organising talks and exhibitions and using social media, were carried out nationwide.