The Customs and Excise Department and the Department of Health yesterday (December 31) mounted a joint operation and searched a storeroom suspected of storing dangerous drugs and illegal medicines in an alley in Causeway Bay. Ninety tablets of appetite suppressant under the regulation of Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, and about 8,000 bottles (totally 1,020 litres) of cough syrup and 5,710 tablets of assorted pills under the regulation of Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance were seized. The seizure would fetch a total of $750,000.
Officers arrested two Hong Kong men, respectively reported to be pharmacy owner (aged 28) and pharmacy salesman (aged 30). The two men were put on bail pending further investigation.
Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, the maximum penalty of "Possession of a Dangerous Drug" is imprisonment for seven years and a fine of $1,000,000. Under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, the maximum penalty of "Possession of Part I Poison" is imprisonment for two years and a fine of $100,000.
Ends/Tuesday, January 1 2013
