Consumer protection police have seized 18 million baht worth of counterfeit powdered milk products smuggled from Vietnam and arrested six migrant employees during a raid on a warehouse in Samut Prakan.
Officers from the Consumer Protection Police Division (CPPD) and officials from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seized 41 items of evidence along with about 20,000 cans of powdered milk and other food supplement products from the warehouse in tambon Bang Khru of Phra Pradaeng district, Pol Maj Gen Witthaya Sriprasertparb, CPPD commander, said during a media briefing on Thursday.
The raid came after the FDA found that there was a website advertising powdered milk and claiming exaggerated benefits. It claimed the products were certified by the FDA in the US and were No 1 best sellers in New Zealand. The advertisements appeared on many social media platforms.
Police investigators discovered the products were kept at a warehouse in Phra Pradaeng, where they found 12,625 cans of powdered milk from eight different brands, 1,776 supplement products for children, 3,660 items of unregistered medicines and 95 vitamin products.
Six migrant workers from Laos and Myanmar were found packing products when police raided the warehouse. All were arrested and charged with colluding in selling unregistered products and working without work permits.
Pol Col Veeraphong Khlaithong, superintendent of CPPD sub-division 4, said Vietnamese nationals were behind the smuggling of the products from their country. They rented buildings to store the products before selling them online.
“Interested people are required to fill out their names, addresses and phone numbers on the website,” he said. Sellers then contact the potential buyers by phone to convince them of the properties of the products and persuade them to buy more.
“About two or three weeks after receiving the products, the buyers will be contacted by sales staff who will ask about the results of using the products and will offer additional products for sale. Each month, 3,000 to 6,000 purchase orders are made.”
The powdered milk and other supplement products were sold at 1,090 to 1,190 baht a can.
Investigators said the Vietnamese owners of the products visited Thailand once a month to check up on the operation. They also kept abreast of Thai authorities’ warnings about powered milk products that were not certified by the FDA.
If they learned that their products would be at risk of being inspected, they would immediately move their products to other storage sites to avoid legal action, police said.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deputy secretary-general Weerachai Nalawachai displays a can of counterfeit powdered milk during a briefing on Thursday. (Photo supplied/Wassayos Ngamkham)