Hong Kong customs has seized erectile dysfunction pills, psychoactive drugs and veterinary medicines worth HK$80 million (US$10.2 million) and arrested four suspects in a crackdown on two smuggling syndicates accused of mailing the products to more than 60 countries.
Senior Investigator Hong Yan from customs’ syndicate crimes investigation bureau said on Sunday officers had raided two packaging and storage centres, one located in Mui Wo and the other in San Po Kong, where they found 1.4 million pills of controlled medicines.
Half of the medicines were erectile dysfunction pills, while others included antidepressants, psychoactive drugs, painkillers and veterinary medication.
Most were found to be generic drugs from India, which were produced and sold without a brand name after the patent protection of the original medication had expired.
The drugs had an estimated value of HK$80 million.
Hong said the cost of the imported generic drugs was about one-fifth of the original versions, but the syndicates might have sold them at the prices of the branded products.
The investigation began last month when 22 regulated erectile dysfunction pills were discovered in a package being sent from Hong Kong to Italy.
Customs raided the Mui Wo village flat used as a distribution centre on June 3 and arrested two women, aged 43 and 53, seizing 600,000 pills allegedly smuggled into the city.
Another raid was carried out in an industrial building in San Po Kong on Saturday, with officers arresting two other women and confiscating 800,000 pills.
Hong said the two syndicates might have belonged to the same larger organisation given their similar methods, which included renting flats to store and distribute the drugs, and hiring foreign women to package and then mail them overseas via post offices across Hong Kong.
Customs said it believed the syndicates had only been operating for less than three months, and that no smuggled goods had entered the local market.
The women, three of whom were from Russia and the Philippines, were released on bail pending the ongoing investigation.
