20 held in China for selling addictive cough syrup

Twenty people have been arrested in China for selling an addictive cough syrup in the country's northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang, police said.

More than 6,700 bottles of a compound containing codeine phosphate, a potentially addictive prescription drug, have been seized, Shenyang police said.

The syrup is manufactured in Shenyang.

Preliminary investigation showed that an employee from a retailer in north China's Hebei Province sold the cough syrup for profit by falsifying orders from clients, most of which are rural medical institutions, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Codeine, which is extracted from opium or synthesised from morphine, can lead to drug addiction.

Using codeine-based drugs in excessive amounts can also cause problems like stomach ulcers and liver damage.

Substances containing codeine are strictly controlled by China.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)