Operation Pangea III cracks down on illegal online drugs
International operation seizes more than one million counterfeit medicines
Customs officials have seized illicit and counterfeit drugs worth an estimated £1.62m (US$2.6m) in an international operation targeting the online sale of medicines.
Regulators and customs inspected more than 267,855 packages across the globe resulting in the seizure of 1,014,043 illicit and counterfeit medicines for erectile dysfunction, weight loss and pain relief, in addition to human growth hormone, anti-depressants and steroids.
Forty-five countries took part in Operation Pangea III this month, which resulted in 76 people either being arrested or placed under investigation. In total 290 online pharmacies selling fake and illegal drugs were shut down.
The operation involved IMPACT, the World Customs Organisation (WCO), the Permanent Forum of International Pharmaceutical Crime (PFIPC), the Heads of Medicines Agencies Working Group of Enforcement Officers (HMA WGEO).
Co-ordinated by Interpol and carried out with the assistance of police, customs and national medicines regulators, the operation targeted the Internet Service Provider (ISP), the electronic payment system and the delivery service.
During the operation, Internet monitoring revealed 694 websites potentially engaged in illegal activity including offering controlled or prescription-only drugs.
In the UK, enforcement officers from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) with assistance from local police raided premises linked to 12 websites being run from locations in London, Newcastle, Glasgow, Devon, Poole, Clacton-on-Sea, Ludlow and Boston in Lincolnshire.
The Metropolitan Police Central e-Crime Unit is currently working with ISPs to close down a further 183 websites. In addition, MHRA and UK Border Agency (UKBA) officers seized £570,000 worth of illicit medicines including quantities of controlled drugs.
MHRA head of enforcement, Mick Deats, said: ‘We have recovered a range of different medicines being supplied with no prescription and stored in unacceptable conditions by persons unqualified to dispense medicines. An illegal supplier might be good at setting up a website, but that does not make them a pharmacist.’
‘Illegal suppliers have no quality control or standards to abide by and people who purchase medicine from these sources will never know where the tablets they are putting in their mouths have actually originated from or what they contain.’
Deats added: ‘We will continue to use all powers at our disposal to take action against those engaged in this illicit activity and confiscate the proceeds of their crimes.’
The US FDA, with the Centre for Drug Evaluation and Research and the Office of Enforcement within the Office of Regulatory Affairs, targeted 294 websites that appeared to be selling illegal drugs. A total of 274 have since been suspended or no longer offer pharmaceuticals for sale.
The FDA is working with its foreign counterparts to address the remaining 20 websites, which continue to offer unapproved prescription drugs.