Thai court hands 4-year prison sentence to man for selling used medical gloves

An employee of the company accused of exporting millions of used medical gloves to buyers in the US has been sentenced to four years in prison. A recent investigation by CNN reported that the Thai-based Paddy the Room Trading Company sold and exported millions of dirty, used medical gloves, some with bloodstains, to American companies looking to cash in on the increased demand for personal protection equipment during the pandemic.

The employee, Pipatphon Homjanya, confessed to exporting second-hand nitrile medical gloves and the Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court sentenced him to four years in prison, according to Nation Thailand.

The director of Paddy the Room, Luk-Fei Yang Yang, initially faced charges for producing and selling unauthorised and substandard medical equipment as well as using unauthorised labels and selling products with fake trademarks. The charges against Luk-Fei were dropped due to lack of evidence, according to Nation Thailand.

The company came under fire last week following an investigative report by CNN which said tens of missions of used medical gloves had been shipped from Thailand to the US. American buyers say they had purchased large quantities of medical-grade gloves from the company in Thailand, but discovered boxes of gloves were not only substandard, but were used, some dirty and stuffed back into boxes.

The report also said the multimillion dollar kidnap for ransom case in Bangkok earlier this year was over a failed business deal over used medical gloves that had been shipped to an American buyer from Paddy the Room.

SOURCE: Nation Thailand