Sildenafil citrate tablets from Mumbai seized at UK airport

A shipment of 80,000 sildenafil citrate tablets - the active ingredient in Pfizer's erectile dysfunction product Viagra - has been intercepted at Newcastle Airport in the UK by Border Agency officers.
The haul was in transit via road freight from Heathrow Airport and had entered the country on a flight from Mumbai, India. The shipment was mislabelled as containing food additives.
At present it is not known whether the items are counterfeit or genuine product diverted from the usual supply chain as a result of theft or diversion.
The value of the haul is hard to gauge. There is a market in the UK for individual tablets on the street (often referred to as 'poke') with each selling at a few pounds per pill, indicating that the shipment could have been worth £300,000-£500,000.
Fred Simmons, assistant director of the UK Border Agency, said: “Medicines smuggled into the country illegally are often found to be counterfeit and as such pose a huge health risk to the end user."
15/01/10 Phil Taylor/Securing Pharma, UK

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Airports Jan 2010, Foreign Jan 2010