French Customs seized, on February 27 in the port of Le Havre, 2.4 million counterfeit drugs of all kinds: aspirin tablets, pills against erectile dysfunction and anti-diarrhoea drugs. They were coming from China and declared as green tea to a Belgian company.
Hidden in two containers, Customs officials discovered 13 tons of bags and tablets, divided into 601 boxes. “Some pills contain no active ingredient,” says the Customs after a series of analyzes in a Paris laboratory. Others “include an active ingredient which does not correspond to the genuine product and dosage can induce a health risk in patients deceived.»
Simultaneous searches have been conducted in Belgium in order to trace back. Fake medicines were likely to be sold on the black market or on the internet in France, Germany, Great Britain and the Netherlands.
The shipment is estimated to be worth around 1 million euros ($1.38 million).
In May 2013, only one year ago, French Customs caught some 1.2 million fake drugs hidden in a shipment of tea coming from China. The powder contained in the aspirin bags was mainly composed of glucose.
In a report published by the French Customs in March 2014, counterfeit medicines topped major seizures in 2013. This counterfeiting represents indeed more than 1.3 million. With the seizure of Le Havre in 2014, this figure is expected to double.
Interview of Bernard Leroy, Director of IRACM, on radio RTL,
April 10, 2014, about Le Havre seizure on February 27, 2014.
Interview of Wilfrid Rogé, Deputy Director of IRACM, on BFMTV,
April 10, 2014, about Le Havre seizure on February 27, 2014.