Egyptian officials say local counterfeit drug trade including life saving medications has peaked in a year with an estimation of LE 1billion. Al-Gomhuriya reports that experts are predicting a 10% growth in the counterfeit medicine market for 2010. Local pharmacists are concerned saying, “The sale of counterfeit medical drugs has risen.” Abdul Aziz Hanafi, a…
Every day Americans go to Tijuana, Mexico to buy prescription drugs at discounted prices, despite US state department warnings that criminals impersonating Mexican authorities have detained US citizens with legitimate prescriptions and demanded large bribes. 25% of the prescription medications available in Mexico are fake or substandard, estimates US authorities, reports CNN. Counterfeit medications are…
On June 3, 2011, an internet pharmacy owner that solid misbranded and counterfeit drugs, as well as controlled substances, was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison. The other half of the partnership, his Canadian co-conspirator, is wanted by officials. Manuel Calvelo, 37, a Belgian citizen, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy…
San Francisco Customs report that over 3 million doses of fake drugs were seized in 2010 at San Francisco International Airport. Chief Customs Officer Ed Low at the International Mailing Facility at San Francisco International Airport finds counterfeit drugs coming through the mail every day, including penicillin, valium, and erectile dysfunction medication, reports CBS News.…
Consumers beware: there is no wikipharmacy. This is a new ploy by spammers to entice the unwitting into revealing personal financial information and purchasing unregulated medicines from fake drug hawkers. Spammers have created a wiki-style layout for a so-called “WikiPharmacy” to entice purchasers through advertising low prices. Victims are drawn in by the known reliability…
Fake vials of surgical anesthetics have been found in the marketplace in Birtangar, Nepal, after a patient awoke mid-gallstone surgery. A patient awoke during a gallstone removal procedure in a private hospital in Biratngar, five minutes after being administered with the anesthetic, Vacuron. Doctors notified authorities who found fake vials of the anesthetic in the…
NAFDAC officials were surrounded and threatened by drug traders while raiding a pharmaceutical marketplace with a masked informant in Nigeria. Three suspected fake medicine sellers were apprehended by authorities with their wares by the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC) however the majority of suspects had emptied their shops prior to the raid,…
An Uxbridge resident has pleaded guilty to selling counterfeit medicine online from a repair garage in northwest London. Saranjit Bhambra admitted to operating a website, www.keepithard.co.uk, that sold prescription erectile dysfunction medication without a prescription. He pleaded guilty on April 26, 2011, to one offense of selling medicinal products that contain ingredients found in medicines…
Police in China’s Zhejiang Province arrested more than 200 suspects on May 25, 2011, for allegedly manufacturing and selling fake medicine and health care products. Over 1,000 police officers from the Jinhua Public Security Department raided 41 locations and arrested in total 263 people, mostly originally from Loudi, in Hunan Province, reported the China Business…
Federal authorities arrested a Detroit resident on May 26, 2011, for running a counterfeit medicine ring. Gene Hardwick, 49, allegedly bought hundreds of fake erectile dysfunction pills online for 50 cents apiece and then sold them locally for $3- $4 each, netting roughly $800 a month, reports the Detroit Free Press. Federal authorities were alerted…