Head of the Bac Tu Liem District Police Department Doan Van Dong said that the batch belonged to a smuggling ring who illegally brought the products from overseas and distributed them to multiple sales channels in Vietnam.

"Following investigations, we conducted a raid on July 9 at their store of about 500 square metres on Nguyen Dinh Tu Street and found lots of different foreign brand name cosmetics," Dong said. "Over 30 tonnes of skincare, haircare, and other products all had expired and ten staff members were giving them new packing and expiry dates. The store owner, Lai Vu Thang, 36, failed to show papers of origin for the goods. He admitted that he bought the expired goods from China and brought them here for repacking. After being given new packaging, those products are mainly sold to online distributors."

Police are further investigating the case.