Customs officers tackle deluge of counterfeit goods
THE FLOW of counterfeit eastern luxury goods and sexual and athletic performance-enhancing medications into the European market has become a flood. Czech customs officers intercepted in the post and destroyed one tonne of fake Viagra, Cialis and anabolic steroid pills at Kralupy nad Vltavou, near Prague. Packages mailed from Hong Kong and India to addresses in the Czech Republic were detected by customs officers using X-ray machines.Together with the genuine article, fake Viagra, Cialis and other drugs promising heightened sexual performance are big business on the internet. Free samples and special offers tempt those who prefer an anonymous online supplier to an embarrassing face-to-face request for a prescription from their GP. You can have 10 Viagra and 10 Cialis pills, advertised as "male enhancement" and "female enhancement" pills, for under £39 from one of the online drugstores.
By Gabriel Ronay
16 August 2008