Asian business owners convicted for selling illegal skin products

This month saw the conviction of two Asian owned businesses for the sale and supply of illegal skin whitening products in their African ‘hair and beauty’ shops. The director of Sabina Hair and Cosmetics Limited in Totting, Wasim Rabbani, was fined £2,500 for selling almost 200 different products containing corticosteroids and hydroquinone, a chemical banned in the UK. In total, he was found guilty of seven offences under section 52 of the Medicines Act 1968, one offence under the Cosmetics Safety Regulation and one under the Consumer Protection Act.

Ourban Hussain and Mohammed Ilyas Khan, the company secretary and director respectively of African Dreams Ltd in Walworth, south-east London were fined a total of £8,763 for illegally selling and supplying unlicensed steroid creams marketed as skin bleaching products. In February this year, they were also fined over £15,000 for similar offences. The poisonous products were discovered following an investigation by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and London Southwark Trading Standards. Mick Deats, Head of Enforcement and Intelligence at the MHRA said, “We have found some of these products to contain unlicensed medicinal ingredients, namely steroid creams. These are, by their very nature potent and can cause serious damage to your health. Mr Hussain and Mr Khan have put people at risk.”

Both Sabina Hair and Cosmetics and African Dreams Ltd were repeat offenders.