Fake drugs seized in Cebu City raid

CEBU CITY — What was supposed to be a raid against the illegal sale of a regulated drug the other day led to the discovery of fake medicines.

Agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) looking for the regulated drug Nubain in an apartment stumbled upon several boxes of fake medicines and food supplements.

But what made the find even more controversial was that the alleged owner and distributor of the fake medicines and food supplements was the president himself of the Cebu chapter of the Philippine Drugstores Association, Robinson Uy.

The raiders, led by CIDG chief Edwin Diocos, were armed with a court warrant and accompanied by representatives of the Bureau of Food and Drugs and International Pharmaceuticals Inc. (IPI).

In all, 216 boxes of the bogus medicines and vitamins were found in a room in a three-story apartment which Uy, whose family owns the La Nueva Supermarket and Pharmacy, is allegedly renting on Carlock street in Barangay San Nicolas.

The raiders only found four boxes of Nubain, each containing 100 ampules, but counted 125 boxes of fake Biogesic tablets, 84 boxes of fake Clusivol vitamins, and 52 boxes of fake Lecit-E vitamins.

Uy, 24, was not around during the raid.

Generose Ruiz and Patricia Matugas, BFAD regulations officers, and Amiel Lopez, human resources officer of IPI, the maker and trademark owner of Lecit-E, said that based on their initial examination, the seized tablets and vitamins were allegedly fake.

To be sure, the BFAD officers said random samples from the seized items would be sent to the BFAD laboratory in Manila for confirmatory tests.

Prior to the raid, CIDG agents Rex Derilo and Delfin Bontuyan conducted surveillance operations for a week on the alleged illegal distribution of Nubain in the area.

When the agents found out who owned the Nubain, they immediately conducted a test buy, negotiating with Uy for the purchase of 100 ampules worth P10,000.

Uy, in turn, ordered an errand boy to deliver the ampules to the agents Wednesday night. – Freeman News Service