Chinese police dealt with more than 4,600 cases involving counterfeit and inferior goods from January to November 2006, according to the Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

Police arrested more than 5,000 people in relation to the cases and the value of goods involved reached 1.28 billion yuan (US$164 million, an MPS official said.

In 2006, police investigated serious criminal cases involving farming materials, food, medicines and building materials, the official said.

One of the most serious cases was the use of tainted drugs manufactured by Qiqihar No. 2 Pharmaceutical Co., which left 11 people dead.

Health authorities in south China's Guangdong Province reported in May that patients taking the drugs had developed acute kidney failure, which prompted an immediate investigation by police in Guangdong, Jiangsu and Heilongjiang provinces.

Wang Guiping, a pharmaceutical dealer in Taixing, Jiangsu Province, and staff of Qiqihar No. 2 Pharmaceutical Co. were arrested. Police said Wang had forged production documents and sold "propylene glycol" as a raw material for producing Armillarisin A to the Qiqihar drug plant in October 2005. Wang's "propylene glycol" was actually diglycol, an industrial material which causes acute kidney failure. Armillarisin A is used to treat gall-bladder problems.

Besides the fake medicines, the police also broke up several criminal networks for producing and selling counterfeit brand cigarettes in Guangdong, Fujian, Shandong, Jiangsu, Yunnan and Sichuan, he said.

A total of 295,000 cases of counterfeit brand cigarettes were investigated and 1,748 people were arrested.

(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2007)