MoH seizes RM562,062 worth of dangerous pharma products as part of Interpol global ops

PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry has seized a variety of dangerous and high-risk pharmaceutical products worth more than half a million ringgit via a special operation named Operation Pangea XVI.

The operation, done jointly with the ministry's Pharmaceutical Enforcement Division, Customs Department, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and coordinated by the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol), targeted advertising, supply and online sales of unregistered pharmaceutical products nationwide.

The ministry's senior director of pharmacy services, Norhaliza A Halim, said the seizures were the result of checks and raids in numerous locations nationwide, including international entry points involving air cargo, airports, borders posts and ferry terminals.

She said the operation, held from Oct 3 to 31, saw 330 postal packages examined, from which 58 contained unregistered pharmaceutical products.

"In total, 13,552 unit were seized with a value of RM132,498. The largest number of products were cosmetics (2,359 units), gastric treatment products (2,243 units) and steroids (1,673 units).

"We also raided 45 premises selling unregistered pharmaceutical products. These included houses, clinics and business premises, leading to the seizure of 96,691 illegal pharmaceutical products valued at RM417,291," she said in a statement.

Norhaliza said they also seized 1,465 units of painkillers and 1,343 units of health supplements at international entry points and mail distribution centres nationwd

Most of the seized pharmaceutical and cosmetic products, she said, were from

Australia, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Japan and India.

"The raids in this operation zeroed in on illegal psychotropic materials. The ministry's Pharmaceutical Enforcement Division also seized traditional products which had been mixed with steroids.

"Also seized were unregistered painkiller medication and cough medicine, sold by unlicensed retailers under the Poison Act 1952. A total of 12 investigation files were opened for further action," she said.

She said the ministry had also uncovered 1,675 website links peddling illegal pharmaceutical products. She said 76 per cent of these links were on e-commerce platforms.

The links, she said, have been forwarded to the MCMC, social media platform providers as well as e-commerce operators to halt access and have the contents removed.

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