Over 50 suspects held for selling fake masks, protective goods

Beijing police said on Thursday that they have solved 19 cases in which 53 people allegedly made and sold fake or substandard protective materials against the novel coronavirus pneumonia as of Tuesday.

The suspects have been detained, and more than 450,000 of their fake products, including surgical masks, protective clothing and goggles, have been seized, according to the Beijing Public Security Bureau.

On Feb 8, for example, police in the city's Huairou district received residents' reports saying some vendors sold fake protective materials online, a statement of the bureau said.

Three days later, the police destroyed a workshop used for storing the online sellers' counterfeits in the district's Miaocheng township, seizing more than 9,900 fake surgical masks, more than 9,400 fake protective clothes and about 2,900 fake goggles. At the end of February, three suspects in the case were caught in Beijing and Hainan province, it said.

On March 4, a suspect surnamed Liu was caught in Yanqing district after police officers received a company complaint saying more than 2,300 protective clothes it had bought from Liu via WeChat, a popular instant messaging tool across the country, were in poor quality or even useless, it said.

The next day, another woman surnamed Nie, 26, was also caught allegedly helping Liu produce and sell fake products in the district, it added.

Beijing police said that e-commerce platforms have become a major market of selling the counterfeit goods, adding it welcome residents to report on its hotline, 010-8306-1992, for dealing with violations or offenses on drug and food.