BEIRUT: Future MP Atef Majdalani warned Sunday that illegally imported drugs remain on the market and urged that they be withdrawn.

“A pharmaceutical state of emergency should be declared to withdraw all drugs unregistered by the Health Ministry because until now not all drugs have been pulled out of the market,” Majdalani, who spoke to the Voice of Lebanon radio station, said.

In early November, Majdalani brought to light the case of illegally imported drugs and alleged that over 100 types of medicines had been illegally brought into the country with forged stamps, health minister signatures and Beirut Arab University laboratory tests.

In December, charges were brought against seven individuals, including a brother of a Lebanese minister, over what was described as a scandal. The charges included for forging official documents and laboratory reports as well as putting public health at risk by allowing unlicensed drugs into the country and distributing them in the market.

Following news of the scandal, Health Minister Ali Hasan Khalil said that all the warehouses involved in the affair had been shut down and that the drugs confiscated.