The Ministry of Public Security issued an arrest warrant Thursday for the chief suspect in sales of a fake diabetes drug that killed two people last month and left nine others in hospitals in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Li Dong, still at large, is a 39-year-old male native of Liaoning Province, located in China's northeast, officials said. He is believed to have sold the substance in many places nationwide.
The drug, sold under the brand "Tang Zhi Ning Jiao Nang," was found to contain six times the normal dose of the chemical glibenclamide, which is used to lower blood sugar.
Police are offering a reward of 10,000 yuan (about 1,460 U.S. dollars) to anyone who provides information about Li's whereabouts or helps with his arrest. Five other suspects have been arrested in Xinjiang, which is in the northwest part of China.
The drug, first found in Kashi and Aksu in Xinjiang, was reported to have killed two people, one each on Jan. 17 and Jan. 19. Four people remain in hospitals in the region.
Investigators also found 215 bottles of the drug in southwestern Sichuan Province.
Authorities said a preliminary investigation found the drug was not produced in Xinjiang, but they have so far failed to find the source.
(Xinhua News Agency February 5, 2009)