$3.6 Million of Fake Drugs Seized in South Carolina Warehouse
Special agents with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HIS) seized approximately $ 4 million worth of counterfeit goods and pharmaceuticals in South Carolina.
The seizure was the result of an investigation that began February 19th. Investigators from ICE-HSI, the South Carolina Secretary of State’s Office, Blazer Investigations and Pfizer found a stockpile of counterfeit goods in a warehouse in Columbia. The bulk of the seized counterfeit items were counterfeit pharmaceuticals, according to the ICE.
Bargain House
by Gerry Dincher via Flickr.
Special agents with the US Immigration and Customs
Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HIS) seized approximately $
4 million worth of counterfeit goods and pharmaceuticals in South Carolina.
The seizure was the result of an investigation that began
February 19th. Investigators
from ICE-HSI, the South Carolina Secretary of State’s Office, Blazer
Investigations and Pfizer found a stockpile of counterfeit goods in a warehouse
in Columbia. Most of the seized
counterfeit items were counterfeit pharmaceuticals, according to the ICE.
The bulk of the counterfeit medication seized was
manufactured in India, reports ABC News.
The fake pills were mostly counterfeits of erectile dysfunction
medication and finasteride, reports the ICE.
South Carolina Secretary of State Mark Hammond told the State and Courier that
the harm caused by counterfeit drugs goes beyond simple copyright concerns,
stating "Fake medicine takes this harm to another level because it can
literally kill you. Consumers need to be aware that just because a counterfeit
pill looks like a name-brand product, the chemicals and by-products it contains
may be dangerous to ingest. Passing off so-called 'pharmaceuticals' as a cheap
alternative to name-brand medicine is a prescription for disaster. I am very
pleased that these fakes are off of our streets."
Vincent Picard, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and
Custom’s Enforcement , warned that online purchases of medicines can be risky, especially
if the offer comes unsolicited in an email.
“The buyer must beware. If the deal looks too good to be true
it probably is,” Picard told The South Carolina State. He acknowledged that
there have been instances of counterfeit drugs making their way into pharmacy
shelves, but “that’s the exception, not the rule.”