If No Saline, Use Bottled Water... 'Chinese Bong-i Kungsundal' Made 3.1 Billion with Fake Vaccines

Kungssi Gang Earns 3.1 Billion Won... Arrested Last November
Reselling Fake Vaccines and Illegal Injections Included

Vaccine manufacturing. The photo is unrelated to specific expressions in the article. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-ju] As demand for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine rises, a case has been uncovered in China where fake COVID-19 vaccines were produced, leading to a shortage of the raw material saline solution, and even bottled water was used as a substitute.

According to China's Xinhua News Agency and others, the Supreme People's Procuratorate of China detected 21 cases related to fake vaccine manufacturing and sales, as well as illegal vaccinations, and arrested 70 suspects by the 10th of this month.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate reported that two individuals, including Mr. Kung, last August imitated the packaging of genuine vaccines seen online to produce fake vaccines and made counterfeit vaccines using saline solution in hotel rooms and other locations to make money.

Mr. Kung and his group recruited three more people, including relatives and friends, to expand their operation. When they ran out of saline solution for the fake vaccines, it was revealed that they sometimes used bottled water instead.

They deceived buyers by claiming that the fake vaccines they produced were "genuine products obtained through internal channels of vaccine companies."

Mr. Kung and his group sold 58,000 doses of fake vaccines, earning 18 million yuan (approximately 3.09 billion KRW), before being arrested in November last year.

There were also suspects who resold the fake vaccines at double the price for profit. One suspect purchased 2,000 doses of fake vaccines from Mr. Kung for 1.04 million yuan (approximately 170 million KRW) and then resold them for 1.32 million yuan (approximately 220 million KRW).

Among these, 600 doses were smuggled overseas via Hong Kong. Authorities did not disclose the names of the countries involved in the smuggling.

It was also revealed that some rural doctors administered fake vaccines in vehicles or homes, or recruited illegal vaccination customers through platforms like WeChat.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.