Manama: An Arab expatriate was arrested in Kuwait for the possession of nearly half a million counterfeit medical pills that could cause death to their users, the interior ministry said.
The expat, an Egyptian national living in Kuwait, was selling the fake medicines as original prescription pills for a quarter of the original price. He was arrested along with a partner, also an Egyptian national, the ministry said in a statement.
The partner said he had bought the counterfeit medicines from a Bengali expatriate who admitted to the authorities he had acquired them from an Indian female expat who stored the medicines in a special place in downtown Kuwait, according to the statement, carried by Kuwait News Agency (Kuna).
All those involved in the hawking of the counterfeit medicines have been detained.
Counterfeit drugs are medicines that do not match the description on the label of the containers that hold them. They may be contaminated, or may contain the wrong active ingredients, the correct active ingredient in the wrong amounts, or no active ingredients at all, Kuna reported.
Counterfeits may also be out-of-date pills that have been repackaged with new expiry dates.
Drugs can also be considered counterfeit if they contain the right ingredients in the right amounts, but they are not made by the manufacturer described on the label.
