Palestinians close factories producing fake coronavirus masks, sanitizer

Crackdown in response to complaints that products did not meet PA standards and regulations

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
A member of medical staff swaps a Palestinian worker for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing, upon his return from Israel, outside the Israeli-controlled Tarqumiya checkpoint near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank March 26, 2020 (photo credit: MUSSA QAWASMA / REUTERS)
A member of medical staff swaps a Palestinian worker for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing, upon his return from Israel, outside the Israeli-controlled Tarqumiya checkpoint near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank March 26, 2020
(photo credit: MUSSA QAWASMA / REUTERS)
Several factories and businesses that were manufacturing unlicensed face masks and hand sanitizers to prevent the spread of coronavirus were closed by the Palestinian Authority in the past two weeks.
More than 40 suspects were arrested on charges of fraud, price gouging and manufacturing unlicensed products, a PA National Economy Ministry official said.
The crackdown came in response to complaints from many Palestinians that the products did not meet the standards and regulations of the PA Health Ministry and National Economy Ministry, the official said.
The unlicensed products were being sold at high prices to thousands of anxious Palestinian consumers in different parts of the West Bank.
“Most of the products carried fake labels indicating they had been approved by the Health Ministry,” said Mohammed Nabil, a pharmacist from Hebron. “We were not aware that the face masks and hand sanitizers were fake until health officials and policemen raided our pharmacy and confiscated the gel bottles and masks.”
Some businessmen were exploiting the panic over the coronavirus to make illegal profits, PA Health Ministry official Ashraf Abu Khalaf said.
“We won’t hesitate to take strict measures against those behind this ugly and disturbing phenomenon,” he said.
On Sunday, PA security officers and National Economy Ministry representatives closed two clothing factories in Nablus and the nearby town of Salfit after discovering they were manufacturing unlicensed face masks. They also confiscated and destroyed thousands of unlicensed masks and bottles of hand sanitizer from dozens of shops and pharmacies in the Nablus area.
In Hebron, five clothing factories were closed in the past few days after they were caught producing unlicensed face masks intended for use to prevent the spread of the virus.
In Jenin, the PA closed a curtain shop whose owners were caught producing unlicensed face masks.
The masks that were seized in the factories did not meet the conditions required for obtaining a manufacturing license, said Maher al-Qaisi, a senior official with the PA National Economy Ministry.