Cancer patient held for buying overseas drugs

An undated photo shows Lu Yong, a leukemia patient who reportedly purchased unlicensed anticancer drugs overseas for himself and other patients via an illegal credit card, in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province.[Photo/infzm.com]

A leukemia patient who had reportedly purchased unlicensed anticancer drugs overseas for himself and other patients via an illegal credit card has been arrested, despite hundreds of patients' appealing for his pardon, in Beijing on Saturday, Beijing Times reported.

Lu Yong, the patient, arrived on Saturday night at Beijing airport from Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province, with two of his friends, for a media interview. "We were walking together and suddenly we realized that Lu was missing. Then we found out that he had been taken away by police," said one of Lu's friend, who later learned that "Lu was listed as a fugitive".

Zhang Yupeng, the lawyer of Lu Yong, said the arrest warrant had been issued in Yuanjiang, Central China's Hunan province, and Beijing police cooperated in his arrest.

According to Zhang, Lu is being held at a detention center in Beijing before being transported to Yaunjiang. The family members of Lu had not received any legal documents from the police as of 9:30 am on Wednesday.

Lu was charged with "sale of fake drugs" and "impairing credit card administration" on July 21, 2014, by Yuanjiang procuratorate after local police busted a credit card trafficking gang, from whom Lu had allegedly bought three cards.

Lu reportedly used one of the illegal credit cards to purchase the anticancer drugs, which is unlicensed in China, from India from 2012 to August, 2013, according to the indictment.

The current China's law states that any medicine that has not been given the green light by authorities will be considered fake, even if it is effective, prosecutor Luo Jian, who is dealing with the case, told Beijing Times.

People who provide accounts for the sale of fake drugs will be treated as accomplices, according to the law, Luo said.