Local courts took the opportunity to get tough on vendors, especially those selling fake drug and alcohol products in the city Thursday, on World Consumer Rights Day, prosecuting 59 suspects for 29 cases involving 110 million yuan ($17.38 million) worth of illegal knockoffs.

A 26-year-old man, surnamed Chen, got the strictest sentence Thursday, receiving two years behind bars after police caught him in possession of more than a thousand cartons of fake cigarettes valued at some 410,000 yuan.

Chen had rented two apartments in the city to store the smokes. Though they had not yet been sold, the court ruled that the intent was there and also fined him 30,000 yuan.

A 65-year-old retiree, meanwhile, surnamed Yang, was given six months in jail after he was caught selling fake muscle joint pills to seniors last year. But since Yang was a first-time offender and no one was hurt from his crime, a local court decided to give him a lenient sentence after he confessed.

The cases Thursday also included punishment for a local grocery store, which was altogether fined 15,000 yuan after it knowingly sold three fake bottles of Johnnie Walker whiskey to customers last year.

Global Times