Record fine for tiger drugs firm
A CHINESE medicine trading company received a record fine of $500,000 yesterday for selling drugs which it claimed contained tiger extracts.
A total of 160 packets of the Chinese medicine was found in a ground-floor shop in Wing Lok Street, Central, on May 15, during a raid by the Agriculture and Fisheries Department, Western Court heard.
The drugs were claimed to have various medicinal values, such as increasing sexual abilities, curing rheumatism and arthritis and improving kidney functions.
Both Prime Company, also operating under the name Van Duc Trading, admitted possession of controlled medicine without a licence.
The fine, imposed by magistrate Ian Candy, was the heaviest handed down under the Animals and Plants (Protection of Endangered Species) Ordinance. The maximum penalty is a $5 million fine and two years' imprisonment.
