Ten Tons of Counterfeit Medication Seized at French Port of Le Havre
2.4 million counterfeit pills were seized by French customs during routine search of a shipment from China. Fake versions of aspirin, diarrhea treatment & ED medications were being shipped disguised as packages of Chinese tea.
French customs has notified the media that a huge haul of fake drugs worth about $1.38 million was seized by them at the port of Le Havre in February, the Globe and Mail reports. Amounting to over 10 tons, the counterfeit medicines were made to look like aspirin, anti-diarrhea medication and ED treatments, and were shipped in two huge containers that originated in China, according to the Globe and Mail.
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The fake drug shipment’s previous stop enroute to France was Belgium. The ultimate market for the counterfeit drugs is as yet unknown, reports the Globe and Mail. They were packaged in bulk, disguised and labeled as Chinese tea, but customs agents found instead over 2.4 million fake pills in the tea packages when they checked them, according to Reuters.
Reuters also reports the fake aspirin and anti-diarrhea drugs were simply sugar, but the ED medication had some actual medication in its composition, but was not the genuine product.
This is the largest discovery of counterfeit medication that has occurred at the Le Havre port, according to Radio France Internationale. In May 2013, 1.2 million doses of fake aspirin shipped from China were found in a shipment destined for Spain.
Taking medication with no actual drug ingredients at all is just one scenario that can occur when you purchase medication from an untrustworthy source. Please read “The Hidden Poisons Found in Counterfeit Medication.”