Date: May 12, 2006

The Chinese authorities recently sentenced a man to 10 years in prison, even after slapping a heavy fine on him. He was arrested last November on the charge of manufacturing fake erectile dysfunction drugs.

Wang Weiping was a legal worker in Kangdeli Health Care Co Ltd, when he was detained in East China’s Zhejiang province on suspicion of selling and promoting counterfeit Viagra and Cialis in November last year. Altogether, 381,000 fake Viagra pills and 1.4 million counterfeit Cialis tablets, worth a combined total of 241 million Yuan (US$29 million) in the market were seized along with the machines after the police raided the premises of the healthcare center. On thorough examination, some of the recovered pills were found to contain medical starch, with less therapeutic effect, while others had sildenafil in large quantities which could pose to be a potential health hazard.

After a few months of patient hearing, the Shaoxing Intermediate People's Court slapped a fine of 2 million Yuan (US$250,000) on him and further sentenced him to prison for 10 years.

Wang Weiping`s association with counterfeit Viagra pills began in April last year when he started producing the pills in Shaoxing, before he established another base at Guannan in Jiangsu Province in the month of June.

The money involved in the fake drug racket was the largest sum uncovered so far in Zhejiang Province.

Source: Chinadaily.com.cn

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