Staff from the Kenya Pharmacy and Poisons Board on Thursday seized counterfeit medicines from merchants in Kiambu Town following a tip off from the public.
The drugs impounded by the board were not even registered while others might have been stolen from government stores.
Head of the board’s Inspectorate Dr Ahmed Mohamed from Nairobi estimated the consignment to be worth Sh40 million to Sh60 million.
“This kind of stock shows that they are keeping very expensive drugs,” Dr Ahmed said, adding that they had information on three cosmetics stores that have been stocking the drugs.
“We decided to pay an impromptu visit to Kiambu and have arrested one suspect while the other two might have got wind of our operation and fled,” he said.
In one of the stalls in which the owner had vanished, the board’s staff got Sh308,800 which they suspect were proceeds from the drugs sale.
He added that with the help of the police and their newly acquired crime inspectorate enforcement and surveillance unit, they will pursue the two suspects who escaped their dragnet.
He said they recovered anti-rabies injectable and morning after pills in their exercise.
“You can see that the storage condition and the premises in which the drugs are being kept are not suitable for human consumption and are dangerous drugs that we do not even know whether they contain active ingredients,” he said.
“According to the law this anti-rabies vaccine is supposed to be stored in conditions under two to eight degrees centigrade and you can see we are in a store that is over 30 degrees centigrade,” he said.
Dr. Ahmed said the board has been receiving information that some cosmetic shops have been selling drugs.
“We intend to inspect all cosmetic shops and I want to warn owners of such shops that they should get a valid license for their businesses,” he said.
He asked Kenyans to buy drugs from registered premises as well as report dubious cases saying this could help the board save more Kenyans from falling prey to harmful drugs and also ensure that they were cleaned up from the shelves and destroyed.