OCPB denies connection with weight-loss drug seized in Kalasin
The Office of the Consumer Protection Board (OCPB) is not involved in the production of a banned weight-loss drug found in large quantities in a police raid on a factory in this northeastern province on Saturday morning, according to an OCPB release made available to the media on Sunday.
The person accused of involvement is in fact a police officer in the Consumer Protection Police Division, says the release.
More than 1 million weight-loss capsules were seized after a team of police and soldiers searched a house in Na Mon district on Saturday and found powder containing sibutramine, which is banned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), along with gelatin and packaging. The house was also used as the office of D.D. Cosmed Co.
Wassapassorn Sulamnat, 52, claimed to be the owner of the house.
The authorities proceeded to raid two warehouses about two kilometres away and found additional quantities of the powder imported from China, more than 1 million weight-loss capsules, cardboard boxes and other items.
The actions followed the death of a 30-year-old woman in Ang Thong after taking weight-loss pills that she had ordered online.
Ms Wassapassorn admitted the production of the pills had not received approval from the FDA. She accused an official of the OCPB of invovement, saying he supplied the drug power used in the production and was paid 20,000 baht a month.
On Sunday morning, a meeting was held at Na Mon police station between police officers led by Pol Maj Gen Tinnarat Phetphansri, the Kalasin police chief, and Pathawee Yaowalak, a special investigator from the OCPB, to discuss the accusation made by Ms Wassapassorn.
It was initially agreed that the person mentioned by Ms Wassapassorn was not an OCPB official. Further investigation would be carried out to establish the facts, Pol Maj Gen Tinnarat said.
The OCPB statement released on Sunday says that the person was in fact a police officer attached to the Consumer Protection Police Division, with headquarters located at the government office complex on Chaeng Watthana road in Nonthaburi province.
“The name and rank of the police officer have been identified,” the statement says, but does not elaborate.
