The illegal products were seized in 24 raids by the health ministry’s pharmaceutical enforcement branch in the three states, in its largest operation held this year.

Ministry pharmacy enforcement division director Zawawi Abdullah said the operation was launched after two years of intelligence and surveillance with raids on a factory and warehouse in Penang, as well as stores, premises and offices selling the products in the three states.

“Our raids found that the factory in Penang processed the sex stimulants containing the scheduled poisons before sending them to the warehouse to be distributed to suppliers in the three states.

“The suppliers would repackage the medicine with their various brands and sell them online on e-commerce platforms at RM100 to RM200 per bottle or box,” he said at a press conference here.

Zawawi said the value of the confiscated illegal products in Penang was the largest at RM3.9 million, while it was RM452,000 in Kedah and RM65,000 in Johor.

“The operation in Penang zeroed in on 17 premises, six in Kedah, and one in Johor.”

Zawawi said all the premises that were raided belonged to the same syndicate, whose network had been operating for a long time with the capacity to make millions of ringgit in profits.

He said they recorded the statements of nine individuals, including factory and warehouse owners and their employees, all aged 20 to 50, to help in the investigation.