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Security and customs officers in Uzbekistan’s Namangan region have uncovered a concealed pharmaceutical warehouse stocked with nearly 68,000 drug units valued at approximately 5.6 billion soums, in what authorities describe as an organised scheme to stockpile foreign medicines for unlicensed sale.
The Namangan regional directorate of the State Security Service (SSB) said its officers carried out a joint operation with the regional Customs Administration and the Internal Affairs Directorate. The target was a basement in an uninhabited building in Uychi district, where investigators found 67,923 units of pharmaceutical products spanning 412 distinct foreign-manufactured drug names, all stored in preparation for subsequent sale.
The two men suspected of running the operation are brothers born in 1983 and 1986. The elder is identified as the director of a private enterprise licensed to sell pharmaceutical products in Uychi district; the younger worked for him. Together, the SSB alleges, they organised the underground storage facility as an adjunct to their registered business.
Scope of the Find
The 412 product names and nearly 68,000 individual units represent a substantial volume for a single undeclared site. All medicines were seized under formal procedural rules. Forensic chemical analysis and commodity expert assessments have been commissioned to establish the drugs’ composition, quality and precise market value — steps that will also determine whether any of the stock is counterfeit, expired or otherwise unsafe.
Pre-investigation verification proceedings are under way. No charges have been filed and no criminal case has been formally opened as of the date of the operation; the legal status of both men remains that of suspects subject to a preliminary inquiry.
Why It Matters
Uzbekistan has been tightening oversight of its pharmaceutical supply chain, including a serialisation programme connecting manufacturers to a state tracking platform. Undeclared warehouses of this scale — operating outside the licensed distribution network — undermine both price controls and quality guarantees that the state system is designed to enforce. The involvement of a registered pharmaceutical retailer as the alleged organiser raises questions about how licensed operators interact with parallel, unregulated stock, a question the ongoing expert examinations and pre-investigation review are expected to address.