STASHED by some garbage, hidden under cash registers crawling with cockroaches and covered up by tidbits.

That was the game of hide and seek that some drug sellers in Joo Chiat Complex played with the Health Sciences Authority (HSA).

After gathering ground intelligence including a tip-off from The New Paper and keeping up with surveillance, the HSA's Health Products Regulation Group raided five of the shops on Sunday.

The four-hour raid, which was conducted by 10 HSA officers, turned up a haul of 30,000 suspicious items. They will be sent to the HSA labs for testing.

If found to be illegal, the shopkeepers can be charged. Anyone found guilty of importing, stocking and possessing fake or illegal drugs can be jailed for up to two years and/or fined up to $10,000 under the Poisons Act. Under the Medicines Act, it can be a $5,000 fine and/or jail term of up to two years.

Said Ms Ruth Lee, deputy head (Investigation), Compliance Branch, Health Products Regulation Group, HSA: 'In Singapore, we more or less know the areas where we have to keep up our surveillance.'

This time, some of the drugs found included what the officers suspect to be adulterated jamu (traditional Indonesian herbal supplement) and oral contraceptives.

Said Ms Lee: 'The shopkeepers tried to hide the drugs everywhere.'

One of them even casually left a stash of drugs next to the garbage, hoping it would be mistaken by the HSA officers as just that.

But no such luck for them.

The officers combed the shops thoroughly, including under the cash machines where 'spiders and cockroaches' lurked, and found the loot.

Some tried to hide the stuff under their display tables outside the shops.

So while the table tops might have been covered with keropok and other tidbits, the bottom, covered by the table cloth, was stuffed with drugs.

'We had to be very careful to make sure we went through every nook and cranny in each shop, including the outside areas. That's why it took four hours,' said Ms Lee.

After the raid comes the tedious task of testing the seized products to find out which of them are illegal and which are counterfeit.

'Out of the five shop fronts we targeted, only two were found to have suspicious products,' said Ms Lee.

Such raids by the HSA are conducted throughout the year.

For security reasons, the HSA cannot reveal how many raids they conduct a year.

Said Mr Yee Shen Kuan, senior deputy director, Centre for Drug Administration, Health Products Regulation Group, HSA: 'Such enforcement is only one of the many activities we carry out.'

Ms Lee picked it up and it was game over for that lot.

The officers combed the shops thoroughly, including under the cash machines where 'spiders and cockroaches' lurked, and found the loot.

Some tried to hide the stuff under their display tables outside the shops.

So while the table tops might have been covered with keropok and other tidbits, the bottom, covered by the table cloth, was stuffed with drugs.

'We had to be very careful to make sure we went through every nook and cranny in each shop, including the outside areas. That's why it took four hours,' said Ms Lee.

After the raid comes the tedious task of testing the seized products to find out which of them are illegal and which are counterfeit.

'Out of the five shop fronts we targeted, only two were found to have suspicious products,' said Ms Lee.

Such raids by the HSA are conducted throughout the year.

For security reasons, the HSA cannot reveal how many raids they conduct a year.

Said Mr Yee Shen Kuan, senior deputy director, Centre for Drug Administration, Health Products Regulation Group, HSA: 'Such enforcement is only one of the many activities we carry out.'

PUBLIC EDUCATION

Apart from clamping down on offenders, Mr Yee said educating the public was just as important.

'The public must know that they are risking their lives when they buy these products,' he said.

To that end, HSA has launched a campaign in the newspapers to warn the public of the dangers of taking such products.

Mr Yee said the HSA's fight against illegal and counterfeit medicines here will not stop until the problem is completely stamped out.

'Look at what happened in the Power1 Walnut case. There was a death and so many adverse drug reactions and still people continue to buy these illegal drugs,' said Mr Yee.

Where these illegal drugs are made is difficult to track.

'You may have one group in one country making the powder into the pill. Then it's shipped to another country where the packaging is made. It can be made in a jungle or someone's house. Westrongly believe that it involves underground syndicates,' said Mr Yee.

WORLDWIDE PROBLEM

Because illegal and counterfeit medicines are global public health issues, no country is spared this problem and no agency can manage it single-handedly.

'We have to work together with others to tackle this. Collaboration and co-ordination are essential,' said Mr Yee.

Internationally, HSA works with the Permanent Forum for International Pharmaceutical Crime (PFIPC), the World Health Organisation (WHO) as well as its counterparts in the Asean countries.

HSA is also the national co-ordinating body for combating adulterated and counterfeit drugs.

They work with the police, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, Central Narcotics Bureau, Customs and the National Environment Agency.

'We sometimes conduct joint raids and inspections with these agencies,' said Mr Yee. Sunday's raid was an HSA-only affair.

This story was first published in The New Paper on May 14, 2008.