Interpol Russia Launches Campaign to Fight Counterfeit Antibiotics and Others

Interpol Russia recently announced that it would start a major operation against fake drugs.

Rossiyskaya Gazeta announced the operation Monday September 27, 2010. The head of Russia’s Interpol Bureau, General Timur Lakhonin, said that the operation would seek the sources of counterfeit drugs in the country, reports the ITAR-TASS News Agency.

“At present, a special raid was launched to detect the channel of counterfeit medicines,” he said. “This is a new direction in our work. We found 1,200 websites in the internet that sell fake medicines. These medicines are now being seized. The operation is underway in 25 countries and now it begins in Russia.”

Lakhonin said that certain segments of the pharmaceutical injury warrant more attention than others.

“The most dangerous segment of the black market is [the] counterfeiting of different antibiotics, contraceptives, steroids and weight loss medicines,” he said.