Customs officers have arrested eight people, shutting down a syndicate producing, packaging and distributing counterfeit Chinese cough medicine.

They raided a manufacturing site and a distribution company in two factory buildings in Kwai Chung, and three dispensaries in Sham Shui Po and Yau Ma Tei.

Six men and two women, aged 32 to 59, were arrested, including the 54-year-old male mastermind. About 15,000 bottles of the cough pills, worth about $40,000, were seized.

Investigations have found that a company registered a name similar to that of a genuine medicine factory, and printed the company name on the packaging boxes of the counterfeit medicine. The packaging and price of the counterfeit products was almost the same as the genuine ones to evade Customs investigations.