China orders arrest of main suspect in fake diabetes drug deaths

BEIJING, February 5 (RIA Novosti) - The Chinese security agency on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for a man suspected of masterminding the sale of fake diabetes drugs that killed two people and poisoned several others, Xinhua said.

The main suspect Li Dong is currently the subject of a nationwide manhunt. Five people have already been arrested on suspicion of selling the drugs that left two dead in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on January 17.

Police recovered 215 bottles of the counterfeit diabetes drug branded Tang Zhi Ning Jiao Nang containing six times the normal dose of glibenclamide, which is used to lower blood sugar, the agency said.

Nine other people have been hospitalized after taking the drugs and four of them are still receiving treatment in hospital.

A search is continuing to try and trace the deadly medicine with police seizing over 9,000 bottles of the drug on Sunday in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, with over 2,600 of them being seized from customers.