A catalogue of seized fake Viagra drugs.

Since erectile dysfunction pills became available on the internet, the practice of buying Viagra cheap on line has soared. As a result, more and more people, who want to self-medicate, are now looking at the internet as a viable option for buying Viagra online without prescription. Self-medication has however being strongly advised against. This is because the market, the internet especially, is presently awashed with fake impotence drugs, among other things.

The surge in fake erectile dysfunction (ED) medications is a cause for concern, considering the millions of men who suffer from erectile dysfunction and the over three million dollars that the market is worth. The French budget recently said that the country’s customs officials seized a cache of fake medications when they intercepted a consignment of 224,000 counterfeit Cialis and Viagra tablets worth about 3.5 million dollars.

The seizure was made in December 18th, when copies of the drugs were found concealed in a freight cargo during a search at the French capital’s main air hub at Roissy. Meant to be transported from India to Brazil, the drugs were branded Powergra and Erectalis, with each box in the cargo containing four Viagra tablets packaged in the characteristic shape and colour of Cialis and real Viagra tablets. The budget minister Eric Werth’s office – which is in charge of customs – said that after Pfizer and Eli Lilly – which respectively owned the Viagra and Cialis brand – were contacted, the counterfeit nature of the seized drugs was confirmed.

Previously in July, a ton of phony drugs containing more than 18,000 fake Viagra tablets were seized by the Chinese police. About 30 people were detained on suspicion of either selling or making the drugs. The over 30-man gang was arrested by the eastern province police in Zhejiang and found guilty of counterfeiting and selling the tablets to 12 countries, including the United States. Police in Guangdong arrested 12 men, seizing one ton of fake drugs, large volumes of raw materials for producing sildenafil citrate or Viagra, as it is scientifically known, and two production lines.
Ashish Halai, in the previous year, and his group purchased fake medications from suppliers in china, which they sold to customers who didn’t suspect they were buying fake Viagra and Propecia. Stretching from Britain to Hong Kong, Dubai to the Bahamas, the US – to mention a few – the busted Halai network is the largest drug counterfeiting case in Britain.

According to the report, the fake drugs were manufactured in secret factories in Pakistan and China and smuggled into Europe and the US. Aided and abetted by his wife, Halai and his partner used to run a legitimate pharmacy for a number of years.

After the business was sold, the couple continued to use their business name to sell herbal weight loss aids. In 2002, however, they became involved in the fake Viagra trade, selling to buyers through the email. After making a deal to supply a Mexican company based in the Bahamas, Halai developed a vast network of contacts to help him smuggle the drugs into Britain and dispatch to Bahamas.

By way of marking the packages as containing vitamin supplements for dogs and shipping with reputable companies like DHL, Halai was able to avoid detection. Arrests made in 2003 and 2004, when fake drugs were attempted to be smuggled into Heathrow and Stansted airports, were linked with the case.

Also in 2003, the United States Food and Drug Administration confiscated 8,000 packages of fake Viagra in Miami. Britain’s Medicine and Healthcare Regulatory Agency confiscated over 120,000 pills of Viagra in July of 2003.