Fake prescription medicines seized in raid
JAKARTA (JP): Police seized thousands of fake prescription pills and tablets worth an estimated Rp 100 million (US$12,500) during raids on a warehouse and two kiosks in East Jakarta on Tuesday afternoon.
Jakarta Police Detective chief Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo said on Wednesday that the medicines had been packaged in exactly the same way as the authentic drugs, which are only available on prescription.
The drugs, which included the anti-rheumatic skelan, incidal, cloramphenical, dextamethasone, gestanon, diamicron, dextamine and at least 25 bottles of unmarked pills, have been retained by police as evidence, Alex said.
The drugs were believed to have been produced in Tangerang and Surabaya, the capital of East Java.
Police also arrested three people suspected of supplying and selling the pills and tablets, Alex said.
He identified the three detainees as 43-year-old Tan Yean Ho, who is also known by the aliases of Yanto and Aho, 28-year-old Sumarta and 28-year-old Hartono Kurniawan.
He said police decided to raid the two kiosks on Jl. Pramuka after a long period of surveillance.
"Based on a tip-off from the public, we concentrated our surveillance activities on the two kiosks," Alex said.
He said the suspects had caused material losses to pharmaceutical factories and endangered members of the public who unwittingly consumed the medicines.
One of the suspects, Sumarta, said that he only sold the medicines and did not know where they were manufactured, adding that Aho charged lower prices than official pharmaceutical agencies.
"The cheaper prices enabled me to earn a higher profit and offer my customers a more attractive price," Sumarta said.
He admitted to selling products supplied by Aho over a period of almost five years.
Hartono Kurniawan, who started his business three years ago, disclosed that selling fake prescription medicines could earn him profits three times larger than from the sale of legitimately manufactured products.
"I can sell a pack of incidal tablets for Rp 5,000 and earn a profit of Rp 2,500," he said.
Hartono, who seemed upset, said that he did not know why he was singled out for arrest when many other vendors sold fake prescription medicines from nearby stalls.
He also said he knew little about how the medicines were produced, saying: "I'm a salesman and my skill is to sell my merchandise."
The supplier, Aho, was arrested at his home in Jembatan Besi, West Jakarta, shortly after the police had taken the two sellers into custody.
Aho then accompanied the officers to the warehouse where he kept his supplies of fake medicines.
Police grilled Aho over his links to a man identified as Sutjipto, a resident of Surabaya suspected of masterminding the manufacture and supply of fake prescription medicines in Jakarta and a number of provinces throughout the country. (emf)