BEIJING - China's Internet and drug authorities recently gathered together major portals, search engines and shopping sites, to order them to eliminate illicit drug advertisements from their sites, the State Internet Information Office (SIIO) said on Monday.

At the meeting, the executives of some 20 websites were told to examine themselves and delete illicit drug advertisements.

Websites carrying such commercials will be disqualified form publishing any advertisements, according to the authorities.

The SIIO said cracking down on online illicit drug sales should be supported by everyone. Any websites engaged in illicit drug sales or sales of fake drugs will be punished severely.

At present, 159 businesses have been certified to sell drugs online, and 101 online pharmacies can sell drugs directly to consumers. However, illicit drug selling is rampant on the Internet, according to the SIIO.