Large haul of illegal tablets siezed at Newcastle Airport
Posted on January 12th, 2010
UK Border Agency seized large haul of illegally imported tablets at Newcastle Airport last week. The haul which included 80,000 Sildenafil tablets (which can be sold as Viagra) was seized by officers carrying out checks on freight coming into the airport by secure road transport having originally been flown into London Heathrow from Mumbai.
The confiscated tablets weigh about 170Kg and were being transported as food additives, however they were found to be the illegal drug, Sildenafil.
Fred Simmons who is Assistant Director of the UK Border Agency, welcomed the seizure saying: “Medicines smuggled into the country illegally are often found to be counterfeit and as such pose a huge health risk to the end user.
“Anyone tempted to buy these illegitimate products, whether over the Internet or otherwise, should also remember that the gangs smuggling these goods often have links to serious organised crime.
“This haul shows how robust the checks we carry out at Newcastle Airport are. We search for a range of items, including drugs and weapons as well as cigarettes and tobacco, to keep our border secure.
“The UK Border Agency, in partnership with other agencies, will not hesitate to take strong action against those involved in smuggling.”
The Head of Enforcement at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, Mick Deats, added: “The dangers of buying medicines from illegitimate sources are that you just don’t know what you are taking.
“The dosages could be either too high or too low, contain no pharmaceutical ingredient or a totally different ingredient to that stated.
“Illegal suppliers have no quality control or standards to abide by, and people who purchase medicine from these sources will never know where the tablets they are putting in their mouths have actually originated or what they contain.
“If customers could see the filthy conditions in which some of these medicines were being transported, stored and handled, they wouldn’t touch them.”
For some great rates on parking at Newcastle Airport visit our Newcastle Airport Parking quotes page.
Related posts:
Filed under Newcastle Airport News |