MHRA takes part in international crackdown on counterfeit medicines
Fake drugs worth £3.8m seized in UK in Operation Pangea V
The UK’s drugs’ regulator says it has played a vital role in seizing millions of pounds worth of fake medicines around the world.
Counterfeit and unlicensed medicines worth more than £6.5m were seized across the globe as part of a week-long international crackdown on the illicit Internet trade in medicines.
In conjunction with the UK Border Force, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) seized more than 2.3 million doses of unlicensed medicines worth approximately £3.8m, including 68,000 doses of counterfeit pills.
The types of medicines the MHRA found included those for asthma, breast cancer, cholesterol reduction, skin conditions, antibiotics, and anti-depressants, among others.
The crackdown, Operation Pangea V, ran from 25 September to 2 October and resulted in 79 people being arrested worldwide. It also saw approximately 18,000 illegal online pharmacy websites being shut down through domain name or payment facility removal.
This operation is the largest Internet-targeting enforcement action of its kind with 100 countries participating in this year’s event.
Internationally, preliminary results show that regulators and customs officials inspected more than 133,000 packages resulting in the seizure of more than 3.7 million doses of unlicensed and counterfeit pills.
In the UK, enforcement officers from the MHRA, with assistance from local police, arrested two people and raided 10 addresses in connection with the illegal Internet supply of medicines. Additionally, eight computers were seized as well as financial correspondence.
The MHRA is also working with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Central eCrime Unit (PCeU) and international partners to tackle spam emails received by people advertising unlicensed and counterfeit medicines. These spam emails come from affiliate pharmacy networks that are run by organised crime groups.
The MHRA and the PCeU have joined forces with Microsoft, banks and the US FDA and other large groups to tackle the Internet infrastructure that facilitates this criminality by targeting seven of the largest spam networks aiming to have the websites shut down and payment facility removed.
Detective Superintendent Charlie McMurdie, head of the Police Central e-Crime Unit said: ‘We are pleased to have contributed, with partners, to this operation. Together we have proactively prevented harm to victims by disrupting the infrastructure criminals use to illegally sell pharmaceuticals online.
‘This type of crime causes significant harm to the UK economy, generating millions of pounds of criminal profit. The MHRA's International Internet Week of Action continues to form part of our wider remit to protect people from Internet-facilitated crime.’
