It has been revealed that almost 90,000 illegal prescription medicines were seized in Ireland as part of an Interpol-coordinated operation.
The medicines, discovered as part of Operation Pangea, are valued at over €375,000.
The operation took place earlier this month during an international week of action targeting the online sale of falsified and illegal medicines.
Irish authorities joined representatives from 60 other countries.
Simultaneously, it was announced on Tuesday by Interpol that the global operation resulted in over 10.1 million dosage units of illegal medicines and medical devices, with an estimated value of US$14m (€12.1m), being detained across all 61 countries involved.
Image: HPRA/Marc O'Sullivan
Globally, 4,990 websites and web pages on social media, e-commerce sites and other advertisement platforms were shut down or were in the process of being shut down.
The breakdown of the approximate 90,000 dosage units of medicines detained in Ireland includes 29,518 units of anabolic steroids, 25,241 units of sedatives, 5,477 units of analgesics and 5,700 units to treat erectile dysfunction.
90,000 units of illegal prescription drugs have been seized in Ireland as part of an Interpol operation. The medicines were mainly steroids, sedatives and erectile dysfunction medicines. Here’s a sample of what was seized earlier this month. @NewstalkFM pic.twitter.com/Q9J94D7N67
— Shane Beatty (@ShaneBeattyNews) October 23, 2018
The Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA), Revenue's Customs Service and An Garda Síochána have also targeted, on an ongoing basis throughout 2018, illegal online supplies coming into and within Ireland.
This includes through social media.
This has led to the detention of nearly 400,000 dosage units of illegally supplied online medicines valued at €1.39m between January and September this year.
'Putting their health at risk'
Dr Lorraine Nolan, HPRA chief executive, emphasised the health risks of purchasing medicines from illegal sources.
"Falsified medicines and medical devices can appear legitimate, but we can't stress enough that there are simply no guarantees as to what is contained in these products.
"Members of the public are putting their health at significant risk by buying medicines from unverified and unregulated sources.
"Laboratory analysis of products detained has shown that these illicit medicines often contain too little or too much of the active ingredient.
"They have also been found to contain harmful or undeclared substances.
Image: HPRA/Marc O'Sullivan
"Under the law, the supply of prescription medicines by mail order (including the internet) is prohibited.
"Today's results demonstrate the importance of national and international collaboration amongst enforcement agencies to prevent potentially dangerous medicines from reaching the public."
Operation Pangea aims to highlight to the public the risks involved in the illegal online supply of prescription medicines, in particular, and non-compliant medical devices - many of which are from dubious sources while others are falsified or counterfeit.
