Interpol carried out an international operation which made it possible to close or suspend 9,610 sites selling unauthorized drugs on the Internet. 10 million counterfeit products were seized.
$ 31.4 million! That’s the value of the nearly 10 million counterfeit drugs seized by Interpol. The British Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (Mhra) announced on Thursday in a press release that an international operation involving 99 countries had allowed large seizures of unauthorized drugs. Thousands of fraudulent Internet drug sales sites have also been suspended or closed.
PANGEA VI is the largest operation of its kind on the Internet. During the period from June 18 to 25, 2013, this global action focused its attention on Internet service providers, payment systems and messaging services which are the three main vectors used by websites. marketing illicit and dangerous drugs. The operation involved the police, gendarmerie, customs and regulatory and control authorities competent in the field of drugs and public health.
And among the countries most active in this traffic, the United Kingdom leads the way, with alone, 3.7 million doses seized worth 12.2 million pounds. In a press release, the National Medicines Agency (Ansm) announces that more than 9,000 sites have been closed and 58 people arrested.
In France, customs seized more than 812,300 contraband and counterfeit drugs, the majority in Roissy, and 29 legal proceedings were initiated. 12 of them resulted in court decisions and sentences ranging from recall to the law to one year suspended prison sentence.
Finally, the Ansm also alerts consumers to the risks associated with this traffic, “the purchase of drugs on the Internet outside the legal circuit involves many risks for the health of consumers and it can encourage the misuse of drugs. Only the dispensary pharmacies circuit is regularly checked by the health authorities ”. According to the WHO, 1 in 2 drugs sold on the web is counterfeit. With 27 million boxes intercepted per year, in Europe, it remains the most seized product at borders.
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