80 litres of illegal codeine cough syrup, pills seized
Codeine cough syrup was being sold illegally at a coffee shop near Lorong 20 Geylang.
That was information the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) got from the public.
After surveillance operations, HSA officers and police officers from the Bedok Police Division raided a unit there on Wednesday. They discovered it was used to illegally make and store the cough syrup and other medicines.
More than 80 litres of illegally manufactured codeine cough syrup and 32,000 tablets of assorted medicines, worth about $53,000, were seized from the apartment.
The seized tablets included sleeping pills such as midazolam, nitrazepam and diazepam, and other prescription medicines including codeine tablets. They were meant to be sold illegally in Geylang.
Two men and a woman, aged between 20 and 28, were caught in the unit. They are assisting with investigations.
HSA said codeine cough syrups can be supplied only by a licensed pharmacist or a licensed medical practitioner.
Its director of the enforcement branch Annie Tan said: "Cough syrup concoctions made in non-licensed facilities such as this Geylang apartment are dangerous and harmful to health because they are produced under poor manufacturing conditions with no proper quality controls."
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