Woman allegedly sold enough cough syrup to fill petrol tanker
In just one year, she allegedly dealt with enough cough syrup to fill up a petrol tanker.
Ashley Jas Ang Wei Hoon, 38, allegedly sold at least 20,371.8 litres of the medicine, which contains codeine, between May 25, 2009, and May 26, 2010.
The New Paper understands that this is the largest ever volume of cough syrup involved in such a case.
Ang is also accused of illegally selling 22,000 tablets containing substances such as codeine and diazepam, a stupefying drug.
She was charged last month with 203 counts of supplying medicinal products that are not on the General Sales List.
CLASSIFICATIONS
According to the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) website, medicines in Singapore are classified as prescription only (POM), pharmacy only (P) or General Sales List (GSL).
It said: "POMs can only be supplied by a doctor or by a pharmacist according to a prescription by a doctor.
"P medicines can be supplied by or under the supervision of a pharmacist without a doctor's prescription, while GSL medicines can be purchased off the shelves."
The HSA said that drugs such as codeine tablets and L.T.R Cough Linctus - a kind of cough syrup that Ang allegedly sold - are POMs.
Ang was also charged with 192 counts of forgery for the purpose of cheating.
Between May 25, 2009, and May 26, 2010, she allegedly worked with a man identified as Wong Kin Yu to forge tax invoices of Beacons Pharmaceuticals to order the drugs.
They allegedly did so to cheat the company into believing that clinics had ordered them.
Seventy clinics islandwide were named in the court documents.
Ang also allegedly sold the medicines to Wong.
Court papers did not mention the prices she charged and what the drugs were used for.
Wong was named in all 395 charges while a woman, identified as one Soh Woon Mei, was named in three forgery charges.
The kinds of cough syrup involved were: Promedyl-B Linctus , Beacodyl Linctus and L.T.R Cough Linctus - all of them containing codeine.
Ang also allegedly sold at least four other types of tablets including Diapo tablets, which contain diazepam, and Panaco tablets, a codeine-containing medication used to give temporary relief of fever.
Her case will be mentioned in court on Oct 30.
If convicted of illegally supplying medicinal products, for each count, she can be jailed up to two years and fined up to $5,000.
If convicted of forgery for the purpose of cheating, for each count, she can be jailed up to 10 years and fined.
By the numbers
203
Number of charges under the Medicines Act - supplying medicinal products that are not on the General Sales List
192
Number of forgery charges
At least 20,370 litres
Total volume of cough syrup involved in charges
22,000
Total number of tablets involved in the charges
70
Number of clinics named in court documents
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