Held over homemade 'remedies'

An elderly man was detained by Health Ministry officers recently for making and selling unregistered medicine and pills made from a homemade recipe which included steroids. The man, in his 60s, is believed to have made a good living from the illegal business.

Last week, enforcement officers raided the man's house in Sungai Petani, Kedah, after tests carried out on the medicine and pills sold by him were found to contain steroids and sildenafil, which is popularly known as Viagra.
"The traditional medicines sold by the suspect were produced with a homemade recipe using a cocktail of chemicals which also included steroids and sildenafil," a source said.

"The medicines were purported to help relieve joint pain and erectile dysfunction but they were actually dangerous for consumption."
The source said the house was the location where the man manufactured various types of traditional medicines. "Checks had been carried out a month earlier to detect the illegal factory where unregistered medicines were being manufactured," the source said.
It is understood that during the raid, the man was busy bottling the medicine. When questioned, he initially refused to admit he was producing the medicines.
"He claimed that it had been imported from China based on the labels on the bottles. But the officers later found raw materials which proved he was indeed manufacturing the medicines illegally."
Also found were fake Health Ministry hologram stickers which were pasted on boxes. It is learnt that the medicines were distributed nationwide. The source said the man admitted he had no medical background or expertise in producing traditional medicines.
"He had apparently used information from friends and the Internet before coming up with his homemade formula. Medicines and equipment with a face value of RM200,000 (S$84,423) were seized from the house."