Hong Kong customs seizes HK$600,000 worth of Covid-19 medicine ‘intended’ for mainland China in weekend haul
- Drugs including Primovir, Paxista and Molnupiravir found in luggage of travellers entering city from Thailand and India
- They were set for sale on the mainland, the Post has learned, where demand for coronavirus treatments has surged
Hong Kong customs over the weekend seized HK$600,000 (US$77,000) worth of controlled pharmaceutical products, mostly used to treat the coronavirus, after officers intercepted the luggage of three travellers flying from India and Thailand.
The seized medicines were intended for mainland China where there was a high demand for medicine to treat Covid-19 symptoms, the Post learned on Monday.
Two local men, who returned to the city from Thailand on Sunday, were arrested after 9,000 tablets of Primovir, worth about HK$450,000, were discovered in their carry-on luggage, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The pair were detained on suspicion of importing pharmaceutical products without a licence – an offence punishable by up to two years in jail and a HK$500,000 fine under the Import and Export Ordinance.
As of Monday evening, customs officers were searching for a third suspect – a mainland man – who had arrived from India and entered the city before 2,000 tablets of pharmaceutical products and 1,000 millilitres of controlled medicine were discovered in his check-in luggage on Saturday.
