U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials seized a shipment of 1,200 capsules of an unapproved medicine shipped from Hong Kong to Pennsylvania.

Working out of the Port of Harrisburg, agents seized the Lingua Qingwen capsules en route to an address in Union County, in the central part of the state. The capsules, which are a traditional Chinese medicine, are being used to treat some covid-19 patients in China. They remain unapproved for use in the U.S., customs officials said.

“Panic-stricken consumers and predatory scammers continue to purchase coronavirus protective and diagnostic equipment, and pharmaceuticals from the overseas marketplace that are either counterfeit or unapproved for use in the United States, and that pose a potentially serious health concern for American consumers,” said Ronald Stanley, CBP’s Acting Director of Field Operations in Baltimore.

Since March 23, CBP officers in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and Harrisburg have made 18 seizures including:

• More than 1,350 unapproved and counterfeit covid-19 test kits;

• Nearly 400 counterfeit N95 respirator masks;

• Nearly 2,500 unapproved and potentially counterfeit medications; and

• More than 67,000 counterfeit Accu-Chek test strips.

Seizures have been shipped from China, South Korea, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Senegal, Germany and the United Kingdom, among other locations, CBP officials said.

“Customs and Border Protection will continue to work with our partners at the Food and Drug Administration to identify and seize these potentially hazardous medical products before they could harm American consumers,” Stanley said.

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