Global Arrests For Drug Counterfeiters in INTERPOL Sweep

October 14, 2010

Lyon, France – INTERPOL has announced that 45 countries took part in a week of sweeps targeting the sale of counterfeit and illegal medicines over the internet. 76 criminals were arrested around the globe and 11,000 packages of fake drugs were impounded by regulators and customs officials. In total 290 online pharmacies selling fake and illegal drugs were shut down.

In total 290 online pharmacies selling fake and illegal drugs were shut down.

Lyon, France – INTERPOL has announced that 45 countries took part in a week of sweeps targeting the sale of counterfeit and illegal medicines over the internet. 76 criminals were arrested around the globe and 11,000 packages of fake drugs were impounded by regulators and customs officials.

In total 290 online pharmacies selling fake and illegal drugs were shut down.

Operation Pangea III, the largest Internet-based action supporting the International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce (IMPACT), focused on websites supplying illegal and dangerous medicines. INTERPOL worked with the World Customs Organization (WCO), the Permanent Forum on International Pharmaceutical Crime (PFIPC), the Heads of Medicines Agencies Working Group of Enforcement Officers (HMA WGEO), and the pharmaceutical and electronic payments industries.

“While this international operation, the third of its kind, shows that criminals attempting to use the Internet as an anonymous safe haven are not safe any more, we hope that that by raising public awareness about the dangers of illegal Internet pharmacies, consumers will exercise greater care when purchasing medicines online,” said Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.

Begun in 2008, the annual operation brings together customs, health regulators, police and the private sector internationally to target the three components used by illegal websites: the Internet Service Provider, the payment system and the delivery service. During the operation countries send intelligence to a dedicated operations center at INTERPOL’s General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon, which revealed 694 websites engaged in illegal activity.

“This is, by far, the best example of joint partnerships that I’ve seen in recent years, and underscores what PSM has long believed – that global cooperation and coordination is essential to the successful disruption of transnational criminal groups who aim to harm patients in order to make a profit from counterfeit drugs,” said Tom Kubic, member of the Partnership for Safe Medicines Board of Directors and President and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Security Institute.

“Through a multi-sector operation involving law enforcement and health, INTERPOL’s key objective in Operation Pangea III was to alert and protect members of the public by assisting our 188 member countries shut down illegal pharmaceutical websites, chase money flows and backtrack to the sources behind these illicit pharmaceutical products which represent such a threat to the health of the public,” added Mr. Noble.

As part of the INTERPOL’s general public alert service, it has posted a series of “Don’t Be Your Own Killer” videos on YouTube advertising the dangers of illegal Internet pharmacies.