Zhejiang authorities seize 442,000 toxic gel capsules, millions still unaccounted for

Police in Ninghai county, Zhejiang Province, are tracking millions of toxic empty gel capsules being sold illicitly, the second major incident of such kind since 2012.

Eleven people were arrested on suspicion of manufacturing and selling poisonous capsules on August 29, local prosecutors said Tuesday.

Local police and food and drug administration officials confiscated about 442,000 capsules from an illegal workshop on July 22. Levels of chromium 65 times higher than the standard were detected in the capsules and their ingredients, Zhejiang-based Modern Jinbao reported on Tuesday.

Chromium can damage organs including the liver and kidneys, although no such cases have yet been attributed to this latest batch of toxic capsules.

In all about 90 million toxic capsules were manufactured from February to July, all of which were sold to four dealers who remain at large.

The raid also seized more than 800 kilograms of semi-finished drug capsules made from industrial gelatin and leftover raw materials.

A 56-year-old suspect surnamed Pan, who had worked for a capsule manufacturer before it was unable to give paychecks, took the company's production equipment in lieu of unpaid salary.

He soon began to produce capsules illegally in his rented workshop after hiring 10 people from Xinchang county, Zhejiang Province, where a tainted capsule scandal was uncovered by China Central Television (CCTV) in 2012.

In 2012, CCTV reported on poisonous drug capsules in Hebei, Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces.

In those instances, authorities detained 45 people, arrested nine suspects and discovered over 77 million capsules made from industrial gelatin, the Beijing Times reported.

A total of 39 empty gel capsule producers have been licensed by the China Food and Drug Administration, none of which are located in Ninghai county, according to official data from the administration.

About half of the capsule producers on the market are small- and medium-sized enterprises. Although there are only limited numbers of certified producers, there are more than 300 capsule manufacturing plants in Xinchang county alone, Yangcheng Evening News reported in 2012.