[NA-Discuss] Operation Pangea IV

Joly MacFie joly at punkcast.com
Sat Oct 1 08:48:02 UTC 2011


http://content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd/USDHSICE-147fd6

Pangea IV operations within the United States resulted in 92 seizures,
consisting of 57,052 pills, including counterfeit Cialis and Viaga, with a
manufacturer suggested retail price of $925,520.

With 53 countries reporting their results to date, 13,495 websites engaged
in illegal activity have now been taken down for. In addition, 45,419
packages were inspected by regulators and customs officials, 7,901 packages
were seized containing more than 2.4 million illicit and counterfeit pills
originating from 48 countries - including antidepressants, antibiotics,
steroids, arthritis medicine, lifestyle drugs and diet pills. Seized
pharmaceuticals are estimated to be worth $6.3 million. During the
operation, 55 individuals were arrested and are under investigation for a
range of offenses, including illegally selling and supplying unlicensed or
prescription-only medicines. Some 36 search warrants were executed.

"Operations like this highlight why international partnerships are such an
essential weapon in the fight against trafficking of counterfeit
pharmaceuticals," said ICE Director John Morton. "People who purchase drugs
should never have to be put at risk because the product is fake, unsafe or
untested."

"INTERPOL's member countries and partners have shown through the success of
Operation Pangea IV that the Internet is not an anonymous safe haven for
criminals trafficking illicit medicines," said INTERPOL Secretary General
Ronald K. Noble. "The main objective in Operation Pangea IV was to harness
collective action across different sectors to assist authorities and
stakeholders in INTERPOL's 188 member countries to shut down illegal
pharmaceutical websites and identify the money flows and sources behind
these illicit pharmaceutical products which represent such a threat to the
health of the public. Our thanks go to the police, customs and health
regulatory officials in the 81 participating countries. In particular,
effective and close coordination between police and customs authorities has
shown the way forward in combating the illegal online trade of medicines,
and the day-to-day support from health regulatory agencies in the UK and
USA, as well as from customs representatives from U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, was also critical to the success of Operation Pangea
IV."

-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------
Joly MacFie  218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast
WWWhatsup NYC - http://wwwhatsup.com
 http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com
 VP (Admin) - ISOC-NY - http://isoc-ny.org
--------------------------------------------------------------
-



More information about the NA-Discuss mailing list