According to authorities, online advertising with exaggerated claims compelled customers to purchase products.
PUBLISHED: 13 Jun 2024 at 18: 49
In a raid on a warehouse in Samut Prakan, buyer protection officers seized 18 million baht worth of illegally imported powdered dairy products, as well as six migrant workers.
Pol Maj Gen Witthaya Sriprasertparb, CPPD captain, said during a media briefing on Thursday that he had seized 41 items of information, along with about 20 000 cans of powdered cheese and other foods supplementation products from the inventory in tambon Bang Khru of Phra Pradaeng area.
The FDA intervened after the FDA discovered a website that promoted powdered milk and claimed inflated benefits. It claimed that the goods were New Zealand’s No. 1 best seller and had been FDA-certified in the US. The ads were posted on numerous social media websites.
Police investigators discovered the goods were kept at a warehouse in Phra Pradaeng, where they found 12, 625 bottles of powdered cheese from eight different businesses, 1, 776 substitute products for children, 3, 660 items of unregulated medicines and 95 supplement products.
When police searched the warehouse, they discovered six migrant workers from Laos and Myanmar packing goods. All were detained and accused of conspiring to sell unregistered goods and operating without permits.
Vietnamese nationals are responsible for the smuggling of the products from their country, according to Pol Col Veeraphong Khlaithong, superintendent of CPPD sub-division 4. Before selling them online, they rented buildings to store the goods.
” Interested people are required to fill out their names, addresses and phone numbers on the website”, he said. The potential buyers are then contacted by the sellers via phone to persuade them of the goods ‘ qualities and to encourage further purchase.
The sales staff will contact the customers about the results of using the products and will provide additional products for sale about two or three weeks after receiving the products. 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.
According to investigators, the Vietnamese producers of the goods traveled to Thailand once a month to review the operation. Additionally, they kept abreast of Thai authorities ‘ warnings about uncertified powered milk products.
According to police, if they found out that their products were at risk of being inspected, they would immediately move their products to other storage facilities to avoid legal action.
Weerachai Nalawachai, the deputy secretary-general of the Food and Drug Administration, displays a can of fake powdered milk during a Thursday briefing. ( Photo supplied/Wassayos Ngamkham )