The world's largest international police organization, the INTERPOL, has announced the first results of an operation aimed at closing down illegal Internet business profiting from the selling of unsanctioned drugs. Operation Pangea, as it was codenamed, had positive results in at least ten countries, and more are to follow.

Illegal drug stores have long since been a problem, not only for the ill, whose health they endanger, but also for all Internet users who constantly get spammed with campaigns promoting such illicit businesses. In addition, the profits made through the sale of unregulated prescription-only drugs are generally used to fund other criminal activities.

Counterfeit meds can seriously endanger the health of potential buyers, because they are either ineffective or they contain uncontrolled doses of high-risk substances. According to the INTERPOL report, Operation Pagea resulted in several arrests and seizure of such drugs in Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, the UK and the USA. This coordinated effort will continue, and investigations are underway in other countries where similar raids are to be expected in the future.

The Permanent Forum on International Pharmaceutical Crime, the International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce (IMPACT) of the World Health Organisation and the regulatory agencies from the aforementioned countries collaborated with the INTERPOL to ensure the success of this operation. “Operation Pangea is a clear demonstration that the international community is harnessing its efforts to ensure there is no anonymity or safety for those individuals engaged in supplying medicines illegally via the Internet,” said INTERPOL’s Executive Director of Police Services, Jean-Michel Louboutin.

UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) released its own report regarding this international raid. According to the agency, no less than twelve addresses have been searched in the UK, in connection with seven illegal pharmacy websites, which were promoting and selling uncontrolled drugs for treating serious illnesses such as “diabetes, impotency, obesity, hair loss and male breast growth as a side effect from bodybuilding steroid abuse.” The investigators seized more than a thousand boxes containing unlicensed medicines of yet unknown origin, several computer systems and contacted the ISPs to shut down the websites.

“People can be at considerable risk if they buy medicines from illegal websites. A medicine bought in this way has no guarantee that it is safe or that it is effective, and can in fact be harmful,” warned the Head of Operations at the MHRA, Danny Lee-Frost. INTERPOL's Jean-Michel Louboutin also sounded the alarm by noting that “buying medicines from illegal and unregulated websites poses significant risks, not least that the buyer is putting their health in danger by taking drugs which have no guarantee of safety, quality or effectiveness.”