14 DAY TRIAL // New Zealand Police announced the arrest of a Chinese national suspected of serving as an international supplier of counterfeit pharmaceuticals.
The 32-year-old man was arrested following a three-year long investigation into the international trade of counterfeit drugs.
The suspect was taken into custody in Wellington on Tuesday by the Auckland Metro Crime and Operations Support (AMCOS) officers.
A Wellington District Court judge set bail and ordered him to appear at a hearing next month where his extradition to the United States will be considered.
The US ICE Homeland Security Investigations and the US Food and Drug Administration's Office of Criminal Investigations cooperated with New Zealand authorities in the investigation.
"Counterfeit pharmaceuticals include those used as sexual stimulants, heart medications, pain killers and other medications which Police believe have been sourced from China and distributed internationally via the internet," Detective Inspector Stu Allsopp-Smith, the AMCOS field crime manager, said.
"The investigation has uncovered a strong link between the New Zealand resident and the international supply of counterfeit pharmaceuticals. The arrest also highlights the strength of International cooperation and how this can be used to combat Transnational Crime," he added.
These operations are closely tied to the pharma spam that plagues people's email inboxes every day and the countless rogue online pharmacy websites.
According to recent statistics from Symantec, 64% of the entire spam traffic in December fell into the pharmaceutical category. This output of such junk emails was even higher before Spamit, the largest rogue pharmacy affiliate program closed down in October, 2010.
The counterfeit drugs problem is so widespread that even Google decided to take action against advertisers who push rogue pharma ads onto its network. Back in September, the Internet giant announced filing a civil lawsuit against several of them.
In October, the Russian authorities launched a criminal investigation into well known spammer Igor A. Gustev, of Moscow, for operating unlicensed pharmacies.