Operation Pangea VIII, a global law enforcement effort against fake medicines and their manufacturers and sellers, occurred from May 19 through June 16, 2015. During this Operation, 115 participating INTERPOL member countries and 236 various partners, including CSIP members, seized 23.5 million units of counterfeit and illicit medicines at an estimated value of $75,322,485 – more than double the amount of seizures during last year’s operation.
Conducted on a yearly basis, the intent of each Operation Pangea is to build upon the best practices identified from previous operations to combat counterfeit drugs. This year, Operation Pangea VIII had six main goals:
- Safeguard public health;
- Raise public awareness of the risks of buying medicines from fraudulent websites;
- Seize counterfeit and illicit medicines and medical products and remove them from the market;
- Focus on medical devices;
- Target the most problematic illicit online pharmaceutical networks currently known to the Operation Pangea community; and
- Close down fraudulent websites and remove advertisements.
The following were some of the key highlights from Operation Pangea VIII:
- 171,304 packages were inspected by health and law enforcement agencies
- 50,852 packages were seized when found to contain counterfeit or illicit medicines
- Website investigations revealed 8,814 websites engaged in illegal activity
- 2,700 websites were shut down (domain name or payment facility removed)
- 546 advertisements offering medicines were removed from auction and advertising websites
- 296 individuals arrested or investigated
As noted in INTERPOL’s report, the communication between INTERPOL and several payment processors (including three CSIP members: MasterCard, PayPal, and Visa) led to 53 merchant accounts being terminated. CSIP also received reports from INTERPOL about participating countries illicit activities on social media platforms and took action.
CSIP applauds the success of Operation Pangea VIII and the focus on the illicit sale of
medicines and medical devices via the Internet. CSIP continues to be a valid source of
information along with our members and partners, such as Fight the Fakes and Partnership for Safe Medicines. We will continue in our efforts to strengthen our partnerships and educate consumers on dangerous counterfeit drugs sold online.
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The Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies (CSIP) and our 12 member companies have the
shared goal of taking voluntary actions to protect and educate consumers about illegal
online pharmacies. Continue to read this blog for updates on CSIP’s education,
enforcement and information-sharing efforts.