An official with the Ministry of Public Security on Tuesday announced that the country's biggest illegal sale of triazolam tablets, a kind of anaesthetic, was averted.

Liu Yuejin, vice director of the Drug-Fighting Bureau under the Ministry of Public Security said at a press conference that when the Jilin Provincial Food and Drug Administration made a regular supervisory tour of the Jilin Pharmacy Co. Ltd, a state-designated triazolam production factory, in June, a large sum of triazolam tablets were found to be sent to some illegal distribution channels.

According to the investigation by the local police, from March 1 to May 27, some salespersons of the Jilin pharmacy Co.ltd illegally sold 192 boxes containing 1.514 million triazolam tablets to medicine companies, hospitals and clinics in seven provinces, including Hebei, Anhui, Guangdong, Shannxi and Liaoning.

Local police said all the identification certifications and the business permissions of the class-one psychological medicine offered by the medicine companies, hospitals and clinics, were proved counterfeit.

Seventy-four boxes containing 567,000 triazolam tablets have been recovered, while 118 boxes of 947,000 triazolam tablets could not be tracked. Four criminal suspects have been arrested for investigation. The Jilin Pharmacy Co. Ltd has been closed down for rectification.

Triazolam, a strong anaesthetic, is often used by robbers and rapists to make their victims unconscious. Triazolam dependence may cause insanity and pugnacity.

Source: Xinhua