The successful operation was part of an international effort led by Interpol, Europol, the World Customs Organization and the World Health Organization.
Israeli Health Ministry and Tax Authority officials thwarted the smuggling of dozens of counterfeit medication and pill shipments, the ministry said on Tuesday.
The successful operation was part of an international effort led by Interpol, Europol, the World Customs Organization and the World Health Organization to eradicate the illegal circulation of counterfeit, contaminated or mislabelled medicine.
The operation
33 packages containing medicine that required examination by a pharmacist were delayed and probed, most at customs inspection sites and Israel Post’s logistics center in Modi’in, where 20 packages with a total of 4,519 units of male enhancement gel were confiscated.
In addition to the male enhancement products suspected to be counterfeit, some of the fake medicine uncovered included injections of a substance falsely claiming to be botox, a mixture of unlabeled pills and weight loss drugs and nutritional supplements that contained an active medicinal substance.
Most of the shipments, which were arriving in Israel, arrived from Turkey, Jordan and India, the Health Ministry said.
The illegal fake medicine industry
These shipments often claim to contain medications described as “organic.” However, the ministry warned, the medicine can include psychoactive substances which, if consumed, can lead to hospitalization.
According to the ministry, there are many illegal websites dealing in the sale and distribution of counterfeit medicine of unknown origins, usually stored in improper conditions.
Details of the operation were sent to the international database of counterfeit medication smuggling.