Businesswoman fined for selling fake bleaching cream

ST ANDREW, Jamaica – Businesswoman Sulian Zhang, 34, a Chinese national pleaded guilty to breaches of the Pharmacy Act and the Intellectual Property Act when she appeared before the Half Way Tree Resident Magistrate’s Court today.

Zhang was fined J$400,000 or six months in prison.

Reports from the Counter-Terrorism and Organized Crime Investigation Branch (C-TOC) are that an operation was carried out at Zhang’s business place on Barry Street in downtown Kingston on Wednesday, December 23. A search of the establishment yielded several boxes of counterfeit earphones and skin lightening cream.

The head of C-TOC’s Intellectual Property Unit, Detective Inspector Clarence Bailey is reminding members of the public that purchasing counterfeit items is an offence for which they can be arrested and charged. He said skin lightening paraphernalia should be purchased only under the instructions of a dermatologist, and from a licensed pharmacist.