Somaliland police have arrested four Yemeni nationals accused of repackaging expired medicine with falsified expiration dates in an alleged attempt to resell them in local markets, police reported on Monday.
The arrests followed a raid in Hargeisa, where the suspects were caught repacking expired pharmaceuticals into cartons imported from China. According to police, the individuals had removed original expiration labels and replaced them with fraudulent ones, posing a significant public health risk.
“We apprehended these individuals while they were actively altering the expiration dates on expired medicine to mislead consumers,” said Col. Ahmed Saeed, police commander of Hargeisa’s eastern district. “This reckless act could have endangered countless lives.”
The Somaliland Police launched the investigation after receiving intelligence about empty medicine cartons that had arrived at Hargeisa’s airport two days prior to the raid. The boxes, reportedly imported from China, were pre-labeled with false expiration dates to create the illusion that the repackaged drugs were new.
“We had been tracking these shipments,” said Osman Adan, district commissioner of Gacan Libaax. “The plan was to repackage expired drugs collected from local pharmacies and resell them as fresh stock.”
During the operation, police confiscated five cartons of expired pharmaceuticals, along with computers and fake certificates allegedly used in the scheme.
Ahmed Mohamed Adad, governor of the Maroodi-Jeex region, estimated that the suspects had invested approximately $9,000 in the fraudulent operation.
“They intended to purchase expired medicine, erase the dates, and repackage them in these imported cartons before selling them as safe products,” Adad explained. “This is a blatant case of fraud and a serious threat to public health.”
Officials have raised concerns over the increasing circulation of substandard and counterfeit medicine in Somaliland’s markets, with authorities struggling to regulate pharmaceutical imports.
The four suspects remain in custody and will face trial once the investigation is complete. Despite government efforts to combat counterfeit pharmaceuticals, enforcement challenges and porous borders continue to hinder effective regulation.
