WCO coordinates fake medicine crackdown in Africa
Seizes more than 82 million illicit medicines
The World Customs Organisation (WCO) has launched a crackdown on illicit medicines in 16 African countries, which sparked the seizure of more than 82 million doses of pharmaceuticals. The haul included antimalarial and anti-parasitic drugs, antibiotics, cough syrups, contraceptive pills and infertility treatments, worth more than US$40m.
‘These results are alarming and serve as a reminder of the scale of the traffic in illicit medicines in Africa and the danger this illicit trade represents to consumer health and safety,’ the WCO said.
WCO officers worked with the Institute of Research against Counterfeit Medicines (IRACM) and 16 national customs administrations in raids called VICE GRIPS 2, targeting seaport containers.
Countries involved were Angola, Benin, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Congo (Brazzaville), Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Togo.
Officers checked 110 maritime containers and 84 contained counterfeit or illicit products of all kinds, with the biggest hauls in Angola, Togo, Cameroon and Ghana, most shipments coming from South and East Asia and the Middle East.
WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya said the action was important because with fake medicines ‘lives are at stake’. He said anti-counterfeiting actions needed to involve health authorities more.
‘Through our joint efforts we are able to identify the challenges that need to be addressed, as well as the strategies that need to be employed against this illicit trade by criminal entrepreneurs,’ he said.
VICE GRIPS 2 used WCO IPM (Interface Public Member) software, which helps identify counterfeit goods by accessing key intellectual property information.