Counterfeit items including medicines and chemicals worth two billion yuan (around $315 million) have been seized in a nationwide raid in China Thursday, the government said.
Police arrested 1,770 suspects and seized more than 420 million fake packages during the raid, Xinhua reported citing the ministry of public security.
More than 1,400 dens that produced and sold fake medicines have been broken up. The nationwide raid was jointly conducted by 16,000 policemen in 29 regions.
The suspects used banned chemicals as ingredients for fake medicines, and repackaged expired pharmaceuticals, the ministry said.
They copied medicines from around 100 domestic and overseas drug producers.
The ministry said consumption of the fake drugs may lead to osteoporosis, diabetes, gastric ulcers or duodenal ulcers. Some may damage the kidney or liver.
The fake drugs were sold online or in illegal clinics.
On Nov 4, officials seized over 65 million fake tablets and arrested 114 people in another raid.