The investigation agency served a temporary detention warrant on Ngo Kim Dieu - Photo: CACC
On January 14, the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department initiated a case, prosecuted and temporarily detained Ngo Kim Dieu (41 years old, director of Kingpharm Company Limited), Nguyen Thi Ngoc Huong (39 years old, director of Kien Lam Company Limited, Dieu's wife) and 20 others to investigate the crime of "producing and trading in counterfeit medicines and disease prevention drugs".
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Huong (Dieu's wife) and her husband were arrested for producing fake drugs - Photo: CACC
Police determined that the couple Dieu and Huong established and used the legal entities of the two companies above as a front to conceal the production and trade of counterfeit oriental medicine combined with various modern medicines.
On December 25, 2024, Ho Chi Minh City Police directed district police and professional units to set up 4 working groups to simultaneously conduct emergency searches at 4 locations that are manufacturing facilities, storing raw materials and finished products of counterfeit drugs.
Dieu and staff packing fake drugs – Photo: CACC
During the search, the police seized 1,164 boxes of finished drugs and various raw materials (including 56,255 units of counterfeit drugs, the rest were raw materials or unfinished drugs); 1,600 kg of raw material powder used to produce counterfeit drug tablets; 5 machinery systems used to produce counterfeit drugs.
It is worth mentioning that on the fake medicine box, the place of manufacture is stated as Singapore or Malaysia.
The police had to mobilize 11 trucks to transport the huge amount of fake drugs and raw materials mentioned above to headquarters.
Investigators determined that Dieu and his wife began producing counterfeit drugs in 2018. Dieu himself only studied until grade 9 and has no expertise in the pharmaceutical industry.
Dieu produced fake drugs by purchasing oriental medicine ingredients and modern pharmaceutical active ingredients, mixing them, grinding them into powder, and then using a machine to make pills. Most of the employees working for Dieu and his wife were relatives and acquaintances.
Machines for producing counterfeit drugs – Photo: CACC
The defendants were prosecuted in the case – Photo: CACC
Fake drug production worth more than 45 billion VND
According to the investigation agency, in 2024 alone, Dieu and his wife produced fake drugs worth more than 45 billion VND. Do Thanh My (44 years old, residing in District 12), Do Thanh Hai (52 years old, residing in Binh Chanh District) and Nguyen Mong Dien (37 years old, from Tra Vinh) alone consumed fake drugs worth nearly 35 billion VND.
Unlike previous cases of counterfeit drug production and trading, Dieu did not counterfeit drug brands currently circulating in the domestic and foreign markets, but instead created a company name and headquarters in Malaysia and Singapore (which did not exist in reality) to print on the packaging to show the origin of the product.
Dieu said the reason for counterfeiting was to appeal to consumers' foreign-oriented mentality and make it difficult for buyers and authorities to trace the origin.
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