Operation Pangea IV seizes illegal medicines worth £5m
Largest operation of its kind targets websites selling counterfeit and unlicensed products
Millions of pounds of fake and illegal drugs have been seized from websites worldwide as part of an international crackdown on illicit Internet trade in pharmaceuticals.
More than £5m of unlicensed drugs were found in the largest operation of its kind.
Eighty-one countries took part in Operation Pangea IV, which ran between 20–27 September and resulted in 55 people being arrested, or placed under investigation, worldwide. It also saw an estimated 13,500 illegal online pharmacy websites being shut down.
Regulators and customs officials internationally inspected more than 45,000 packages, resulting in the seizure of approximately 2.5 million doses of unlicensed and counterfeit pills.
Co-ordinated by Interpol and carried out with the assistance of police, customs and national medicines regulators, the operation targeted the Internet infrastructure, the electronic payment system and the postal service.
In the UK, enforcement officers from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), with assistance from local police, arrested 13 people and raided 16 addresses.
The MHRA and the UK Border Agency seized more than 1 million doses of illegal medicines worth approximately £2m, including 52,000 doses of counterfeit pills.
MHRA Acting Head of Enforcement, Nimo Ahmed, said any online pharmacy that supplies prescription-only medicines without a prescription is committing an offence.
‘This week we have recovered a range of medicines being supplied without prescriptions and stored in unacceptable conditions by people who are not qualified to dispense medicines.
‘When you buy medicines from an unregulated source you don’t know what you’re getting, where it came from or if it’s safe to take,’ he said.
Working alongside the MHRA, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Police Central eCrime Unit (PCeU) also took action against unlawful sale of pharmaceuticals online.
More than 12,000 generic domains and sub domains have been suspended and investigators have requested that a further 500 domain names are shut down.
Detective Superintendent Charlie McMurdie, said: ‘This action is being taken as part of our continuing efforts to reduce the harm caused to the UK economy and to UK citizens by those making use of the Internet to commit crime.
‘We support the MHRA’s International Internet Week of Action and appreciate the steps taken by others to support our efforts.’
