More than 20 people producing fake pharmaceuticals in Ho Chi Minh City were arrested.

On January 14, Dieu (Director of Kingpharm Company Limited) and his wife Nguyen Thi Ngoc Huong (39 years old, Director of Kien Lam Company) and 20 others were temporarily detained by the Department of Police Investigation of Economic Crimes, Corruption, Smuggling and Environment (PC03) of Ho Chi Minh City Police for the crime of manufacturing and trading in counterfeit medicines and disease prevention drugs.

Police used 11 trucks to transport 'huge' evidence

Previously, at the end of last year, PC03 detectives discovered a ring that showed signs of producing and trading counterfeit oriental medicine combined with modern medicine to treat bone and joint pain, rhinitis, hemorrhoids, scabies, stomach, cardiovascular, neurological diseases, etc. During the investigation, the police determined that Dieu and his wife were the ringleaders. They used the names of two companies in Binh Tan and District 8 as a front for pharmaceutical business, but in reality, they secretly set up warehouses, workshops, and machinery to produce fake oriental and modern medicines.

After PC03 had enough evidence, Major General Mai Hoang, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Police, directly directed the coordination with District 4 and District 8 Police to solve the case. Immediately after that, many working groups simultaneously raided 4 locations where raw materials and counterfeit finished goods were stored, arresting Dieu and his wife and related people.

Police seized nearly 1,200 boxes of finished drugs and raw materials of various types (including more than 56,000 fake products, the rest were unfinished goods); many machinery systems, 1.6 tons of powder for producing tablets, packaging, labels, various types...

There are a total of 33 types of fake products with the names: Xuong Khop Khac Tinh, Ty Thong An Khang, Xa Huong Linh Chi Don, Nguu An Khang, An Tri Khang, Khang Vi An, Toa Cot Than Kinh Thong... with the place of manufacture stated on the box as "enterprise in Singapore, Malaysia".

Authorities had to use 11 trucks to transport all the fake drugs and other evidence.

Trick to 'trick' the authorities

The investigation agency determined that Dieu and his wife had been producing fake drugs since 2018. Although they had no expertise in medicine, the two defendants researched and purchased oriental medicine ingredients and new pharmaceutical active ingredients with the same effects in treating certain diseases, mixed them, ground them into powder, and then used machines to form capsules, blister packs, and bottle the finished product.

To keep it a secret, Dieu and his wife rented factories to print packaging, stamps, and labels; recruited 16 employees who were relatives and family members to produce and manage the warehouse of raw materials and finished products. In 2024 alone, this network produced more than 45 billion VND worth of fake drugs, and successfully sold 35 billion VND to the market.

In addition, understanding the consumer demand for foreign products, Dieu and his wife did not counterfeit the drug brands currently circulating on the market but instead came up with the name of a "ghost" company headquartered in Malaysia and Singapore. They admitted that doing so would make it "easier to sell" on the market, but if they were inspected, it would be difficult for authorities to trace the origin.

Buy active ingredients for animal feed production to make fake western medicine

During the investigation, PC03 also discovered that some businesses had violated the import and trading of pharmaceutical active ingredients; lacked management, and sold to incorrect subjects, requirements, and purposes when registering for import. This is believed to have created loopholes for Dieu and his accomplices to purchase pharmaceutical active ingredients to produce counterfeit drugs.

"In particular, there were active ingredients imported and distributed to serve the production of animal feed, but were sold illegally on the market and Dieu bought them to produce medicine for humans," the investigation agency determined.

The case is under further investigation.

The special project to destroy this ring by PC03 took place in the context of Ho Chi Minh City Police launching a high-level attack to suppress all types of crimes, ensuring security and order during the 2025 Lunar New Year.