A TOTAL of 75 suspects have been caught in an illegal diet food case valued at over 50 million yuan (US$7.6 million) which involvedGuoMeiling, a Chineseinfluencerbetter known asGuoMeimei, Shanghai police said yesterday.

The suspects are alleged to have produced and sold diet food containingsibutramine, a banned appetite suppressant.

Pudong New Area police began an investigation in December last year.

The illegal food substance was allegedly made into candy and capsules and sold online, mainly throughWeChat.

Each candy or capsule cost under 1 yuan to make, but was sold at 69 yuan, they said.

Over 65,000 candies, capsules, ingredients, manufacturing devices and packaging materials were seized during raids on 27 locations in March.

Guowas a seller of the illegal products, police said.

Guo, 30, of Hunan Province, was sentenced to five years in jail in 2015 for running casinos. She was released in July 2019.

She first attracted attention in 2011 when claiming to be a business manager with the Red Cross Society of China, which the Red Cross denied.