More than 140,000 tablets and capsules worth over €430,000 were seized in Ireland in the last week, as part of an international operation targeting counterfeit and illegal medicines.
The Health Products Regulatory Authority, Revenue and gardaí today announced details of their role in a global Interpol initiative, which took place from 9-16 June.
Among the drugs seized were weight loss products, medicines for erectile dysfunction, anabolic steroids, teeth whitening products, pain killers, cholesterol lowering medication, insulin and mood stablisers.
'Operation Pangea' led to eight illegal websites being shut down - five Irish based - through either domain name or payment facility removal.
Across the world, over 20 million items worth about €70m were discovered and detained by authorities.
This is the eighth such mission to date focusing on websites that supply dangerous medicines.
Ireland is one of 115 countries that participated.
Over 430,000 euro worth of illegal medicines were seized in Ireland in the last week, as part of a global operation. pic.twitter.com/PRtlzrnwcG
— Sinéad Hussey (@SineadHus) June 18, 2015Altogether, four search warrants were executed in Ireland, which resulted in two arrests by gardaí.
Under Irish law, the sale of prescription-only medicines by mail- order is prohibited.
