Cops, health officials seize $1.5 m in pharmaceuticals, quarantine $10m more

Police and health officials seized about $1.5 million worth of unregistered pharmaceutical items from a warehouse in Trincity on Friday.

A statement on Saturday said police received multiple reports about the sale of unregistered and expired drugs being sold to the public at pharmacies nationwide.

A team from the Multi-Agency Task Force and personnel from Chemistry Food and Drug Division were dispatched to investigate.

A cosmetic company was listed as one of the companies where unregistered pharmaceuticals were being sold at its various locations.

On Friday, the team went to the company’s warehouse at Tissue Drive at the Trincity Industrial Estate where food and drugs inspectors discovered several breaches of the Food and Drug Act.

They ordered that the pharmaceutical section be placed under immediate quarantine owing to the lack of a pharmaceutical wholesale licence and licensed pharmacist for the site.

The inspectors also seized 14,227 pharmaceutical items worth over $1.5 million. The items were unregistered and not allowed to be sold in TT.

The items quarantined at the warehouse were valued at over $10 million.

The food and drug inspectors issued seizure notices to the manager of the warehouse and ordered it sealed.

The items were taken to Chemistry Food and Drugs Laboratory building at Frederick Street, Port of Spain pending further investigations.

In a separate exercise on Friday, officers from the Port of Spain Division and public health officials ordered the closure of three Chinese restaurants for alleged breaches in downtown Port of Spain.

Police arrested 11 Spanish-speaking nationals and three Chinese nationals for suspicion of entering the country illegally. Customs officers also ordered the closure of two casinos on Charlotte Street and seized several cases of alcohol during the operation.