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Russian customs officers seize fake medicines in Interpol operation

The packages included cancer and antimalarial medicines, as well as anabolic steroids, weight-loss drugs and nutritional supplements

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, June 28 (Itar-Tass) - Russian customs officers have seized in an international police operation about 3,000 packages of counterfeit medicines from Southeast Asia, the press service of the Russian National Central Bureau of Interpol told Tass on Friday.

From June 24 to 27, Interpol carried out an international police operation codenamed Panagea VI targeting illegal sales of medicines through the Internet, which is becoming a channel for circulating counterfeit medicines. This year already 150 countries were involved in the operation, against only nine countries in 2008.

Customs officers carried out a set of operations aimed at disclosing facts in which counterfeit medicines arrive in Russia from countries of Southeast Asia through the border of the Customs Union by mail, a representative of the National Central Bureau said.

As a result over 248,000 international postal items were checked, as well as over 103,000 aircraft cargoes, nine of which were detained.

“About 3,000 packages of counterfeit medicines were found and seized. They included cancer and antimalarial medicines, as well as anabolic steroids, weight-loss drugs and nutritional supplements,” the sources said.

Five criminal cases have been opened in connection with that.

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