Police target Senen, Pramuka markets for fake drug raids
Police target Senen, Pramuka markets for fake drug raids
JAKARTA (JP): City police are targeting two markets in Central
Jakarta and East Jakarta in an attempt to crackdown on the
distribution of fake medicines in the capital, an officer said on
Tuesday.
Spokesman for the Jakarta Police Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam
said the police, jointly working with the Food and Drug Control
Agency (BPOM), has deployed plainclothes personnel at the Senen
market in Central Jakarta and Pramuka market in East Jakarta to
collect evidence on the alleged distribution of fake medicines.
"We are currently targeting the Senen and Pramuka markets and
hopefully, if we succeed with our investigations there, we will
continue to other markets in the capital," Anton told The Jakarta
Post.
He did not deny the possibility of raids on drug stores in
other places across the capital if there was enough evidence of
illegal activity.
"All places that allegedly sell fake prescription drugs will
be checked," he said.
The police and BPOM were not only targeting traders at the two
markets, but if possible, also apprehending distributors, Anton
added.
"Insyaallah (God willing) our systematic operation will
produce maximum results," he said.
Anton, however, said not all prescription drugs sold at the
markets were fake as some were believed to have been taken from
the pharmaceutical factories and illegally sold to the traders at
the markets for a cheaper price.
"That practice (taking original medicines from the factory and
selling them at the markets without a physician's prescription)
is also a crime," Anton said.
When contacted separately, Jakarta's Police chief of the drug
unit Adj. Sr. Comr. Carlo Tewu said that for his unit the
crackdown on fake prescriptions had become the top priority.
"But it takes time because we have to collect samples from the
field and then take them to a forensic laboratory to make sure
whether they are fake or not. If we find that the drugs are fake,
we'll take the sellers to the station for questioning," Carlo
told the Post.
Tempo magazine reported that one out of three prescription
drugs sold in the Pramuka market was fake and that the producers
used powder or dyes to fill the capsules.
The Food and Drugs Control Agency found that from January to
May, at least five prescription drugs had been fabricated. The
five tablets were Alphaphist, Etambutol, Codein, Himagen and
Hiralgen.
The head of the agency Sampurno, told the weekly he was deeply
concerned and regretted the lack of law enforcement being used
against the perpetrators.(emf)