China says 2,000 people detained in fake drug swoop

Chinese police detained nearly 2,000 people in seizures of $182m-worth of fake pharmaceuticals last month, the public security minister said.

The anti-counterfeiting swoops at the end of July saw 18,000 police officers net $182m in fake pharmaceuticals and detain more than 1,900 suspects. While China has reported other anti-counterfeiting actions in the past year the scale of the latest seizure claims are unparalleled, with 205m tablets netted in the operation.

China says there is still much more work to do though. "The crime of making fake drugs is still far from eradicated, and criminals are coming up with new schemes, becoming craftier and better able to deceive," the Chinese Ministry of Public Security said.

In a statement written in Chinese the Ministry of Public Security claims harmful ingredients, such as a sedative, were added to the counterfeits to make patients think the drug was taking effect. Some of the ingredients can cause liver and kidney damage or cardiac arrest, it added.

Other seized products included rabies vaccine that turned out to be merely saline solution.