Over just one week (23-30 June), 94 INTERPOL member countries representing every continent launched a coordinated crackdown on illicit online pharmacies in Operation Pangea XV.
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Globally, law enforcement made more than 7,800 seizures of illicit and misbranded medicines and healthcare products, totaling more than 3 million individual units.
During the week, law enforcement:
• Investigated more than 4,000 web links, mainly from social media platforms and messaging apps
• Shut down or removed more than 4,000 web links containing adverts for illicit products
• Inspected nearly 3,000 packages and 280 postal hubs at airports, borders and mail distribution or cargo mail centres
• Opened more than 600 new investigations and issued more than 200 search warrants
While results are still coming in from countries, enforcement actions have already disrupted the activities of at least 36 organized crime groups.
Nearly half (48 per cent) of the packages inspected by law enforcement during the operation were found to contain either illicit or falsified medicines.
Counterfeit or unauthorized erectile dysfunction medicines comprised roughly 40 per cent of all products seized. Law enforcement in Australia, Argentina, Malaysia and the United States also seized more than 317,000 unauthorized COVID-19 test kits.
The US seizures alone are estimated to be worth nearly USD 3 million.
The trade in illicit medicines extends far beyond any one country’s borders and is a significant global threat. Often, products are manufactured in one country and shipped to another, while advertisements for the medicines are hosted on websites based in many different countries.
In Malaysia alone, law enforcement identified more than 2,000 websites selling or advertising counterfeit or illegally-obtained pharmaceuticals.
Social media networks and messaging apps are also used to advertise counterfeit and illicit medicines, with Operation Pangea XV identifying more than 1,200 such ads across all major platforms.
Within the framework of Operation Pangea XV, INTERPOL was supported by Europol, the UNODC-WCO Container Control Programme, health regulatory agencies and the Pharmaceutical Security Institute. ■