Los Angeles crackdown on counterfeit Viagra and Cialis

Just miles from the popular Los Angeles International Airport – the airport more commonly known as ‘LAX’ and used by countless celebrities – lays a warehouse and a federal officer sat beside an X-ray machine.

No, the machine is not scanning any passengers’ luggage, but is actually scouring mail for contraband forbidden from entering the United States.  Moving on a belt operating at least three times quicker than your typical airport security scanner, three or four packages at a time are whizzed along and made visible on a monitor to the federal officer.

The packages may include a whole variety of things such as counterfeit clothing, fresh produce, unlawful steroids, children’s toys and Cuban cigars. All have been sent there via the U.S. Postal Service, and, according to federal law, the officer has the power to open anything deemed to be of a suspicious nature.

At airports across the United States such as LAX, ports and border crossings, federal officials are efficient and quick to prevent any drugs from making their way onto the streets. Usually emanating from Central or South America, cocaine and marijuana are common problems for officials – but surprisingly not the biggest problem.

In fact, it is pharmaceutical products which are their biggest issue currently, with counterfeit drugs coming in by their thousands from Asia (usually China). Some of the most copied medications are erectile dysfunction treatments such as Viagra and Cialis, but counterfeiters will produce fakes of anything from cholesterol to cancer drugs. Often the packaging will be so expertly made that it is difficult to separate from the genuine product.

Customs operates within an incredible 38,000 square feet facility in the Los Angeles-area and is one of seven such sites nationwide that is responsible for the scanning of international mail. The site is open for 17 hours a day, seven days a week, and an estimated 1 million to 1½ million pieces of mail are processed each month.

Authorities say that roughly 5% of the mail they scan is ‘problematic’. Most of these dubious packages are containing counterfeit drugs, which are usually dangerous in three ways: either they have too much of the active ingredient, have too little of it or some will have none at all.

Matthew Bassiur, vice president of global security for Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant behind erectile Viagra, Champix, and other popular medications, says: “What patients don’t realize is that if they go online and they purchase from a rogue website — one that’s not legitimate — then they may be playing Russian roulette with their lives. It’s really that simple. The counterfeiters are getting really good at making these look just about identical to the real products. We have to bring it back to our laboratories to test it and find out whether it’s authentic product.”

Large multinational drug corporations like Eli Lilly and Pfizer have spent millions of dollars in the fight against counterfeit drugs and finding those behind such scams that they have teams especially devoted to anti-counterfeiting measures. Joining forces with federal agents and government prosecutors, these teams help to build solid cases against those involved with the production and sale of counterfeit drugs.  Usually, the penalty is severe. In August, a South Korean man who tried to smuggle 40,000 counterfeit erectile dysfunction pills into LAX was sentenced by a federal judge in Los Angeles to 2½ years in prison. The fake pills, including copies of Viagra, Cialis and Levitra, were discovered in a golf bag and other luggage after he had returned to the United States from a trip to China.

If you are a male suffering with erectile dysfunction, safety and peace of mind is assured by obtaining genuine erectile dysfunction medication from a reputable and trusted source such as Medical Specialists Pharmacy. We are fully registered online Pharmacy with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) and the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), in addition to being a member of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA). Our team of Doctors are registered with the General Medical Council (GMC) and our Pharmacists are registered with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB).

Viagra and other medications for male impotence such as Cialis or Levitra are obtainable with or without a prescription. If you do not have a prescription, you can undergo a private and confidential online consultation with one of our Doctors and if suitable, they will write you a prescription. This is passed to our in-house Pharmacists, and dispensed and dispatched to you at your home, your place of work, or where ever you choose, discreetly within 24 hours.

Pharmacist caught selling fake Viagra and Cialis

It seems a week cannot pass by without somebody being arrested or sentenced due to their illegal activity dealing with counterfeit medication. However, the guilty party this time is perhaps a surprising one.

According to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s office, a pharmacist operating in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., has been arrested and accused of illegally purchasing counterfeit Viagra and Cialis from China and subsequently dispensing the fake pills at his pharmacy to unsuspecting men.

Viagra and Cialis, together with Levitra, are three hugely popular medications to treat erectile dysfunction (also known as male impotence). Unfortunately for those who are duped into buying them, counterfeits such as the ones being offloaded by this particular pharmacist, have been previously known to contain either little or too much as the medication’s active ingredient which can prove lethal if somebody has any underlying health problems.

Moreover, Counterfeit drugs are often produced in disgusting, unsanitary warehouses too and some counterfeits have previously contained anything from blue paint (perhaps to mimic Pfizer Viagra’s blue colour), to brick dust, or even rat poison!

The pharmacist in question is 36-year-old Michael Markiewicz, owner of Chicago’s ‘Belmont Pharmacy’.  Despite the fact the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation suspended Markiewicz’ pharmacist license and withdrew Belmont Pharmacy’s license in November 2012, federal prosecutors have stated it is still operating as a nutrition and herb retailer.

Preceding the revoking of his pharmacist license, Markiewicz obtained three separate shipments of fake Viagra tablets from the most notorious country in the world for counterfeit drug activity; China, via the internet. One of these particular deliveries also included counterfeit Cialis. Investigators determined that he was offering the fake drugs in his pharmacy from December 2010 through to August 2012. Shipments contained a ‘gift pen’, according to the customs declaration, with the drugs concealed in unmarked clear plastic bags under the pen.

The federal indictment announced yesterday said that Markiewicz, of Norridge, Cook County, Illinois has been charged with eight counts of violating the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, four counts of trafficking in counterfeit drugs or goods using a counterfeit mark and three counts of smuggling in a 15-count indictment returned on Wednesday by a federal grand jury.

Although it is unclear at this time exactly how severe Markiewicz’ punishment will be, in the U.S. here are some punishments associated with counterfeit medicines: Trafficking counterfeit drugs carries maximum prison sentence of 20 years and a $2 million (about £1.3 million) fine, trafficking counterfeit goods using a counterfeit mark can carry a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a $2 million fine, smuggling carries a maximum of 20 years and a $250,000 (about £163,000) fine and finally violating the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act carries a maximum of three years and a $250,000 fine.

We can assure you of peace and mind when obtaining medicines from Medical Specialists Pharmacy. Patient health and welfare has always been at the core of our business practice. Established in 1994 and becoming the UK’s first legal online clinic in 2001, we are fully registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and also a member of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA). Our team of Doctors are registered with the General Medical Council (GMC) and our Pharmacists are registered with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB).

However, we also understand that the internet is plagued with illegal so-called ‘pharmacies’ that offer ‘discounted’ medication. They are cheap for a reason – they are not the genuine article! To help you distinguish the illegal websites from those genuine ones belonging to fully-registered pharmacies such as Medical Specialists, here are some key points to be aware of:

. Long delivery times of up to several weeks. This is due to the drug being imported from a foreign country before it arrives to you.
. The price of the medication is a lot cheaper than what you could expect, sometimes by as much as 70%.
. The website does not offer any contact details, e.g. a telephone and fax number, company address, pharmacists, doctors, etc.
. A registered Pharmacy such as Medical Specialists Pharmacy will have the GPhC green cross logo together with its Pharmacy number. This number can be checked to see if it does actually exist.
. The company registration and VAT number should both be clearly stated on the website. Both of these are a legal requirement.
. If the website does not require patients to submit a detailed medical history or answer a doctor’s consultation, this is suspicious.

U.S. Viagra and Cialis counterfeiter gets two years in prison

Awni Shauaib Zayyad, 56, of Wilson, N.C. has been handed a two year prison sentence in relation to five federal offenses regarding the possession and sale of counterfeit erectile dysfunction (ED) Viagra and Cialis pills in the Charlotte area. When sentencing Zayyad, Chief U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr also stated that he must serve two years under court supervision after his release from prison and pay $10,000 fine and $500 special assessment fee.

Zayyad was first apprehended by Charlotte-Mecklenburg police on U.S. investigators were made aware of Zayyad’s illegal activities back in June 2010 after he sold over 500 counterfeit Viagra tablets to a Charlotte convenience store where police were already undergoing surveillance for similar dealings.

Zayyad’s residence was subsequently placed under surveillance before investigators proceeded to follow him on a four hour drive to Charlotte on Aug. 23 2010 where he was about to sell more dangerous fake pills to the same convenience store. Unfortunately for Zayyad, law enforcement agents stopped him in Mecklenburg County before he arrived. Inside the vehicle which was registered to his wife, Zayyad was found to be in possession of 500 fake Viagra pills and over 200 fake Cialis pills.

In court it was explained that Zayyad had possessed and/or distributed in excess of 2,000 counterfeit Viagra pills and nearly 400 counterfeit Cialis pills whilst he was being investigated in 2010 by the authorities. The counterfeit fake pills he possessed were actually found to contain active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) of the ED medications, though in varying and incorrect strengths and with unknown non-API additives.

It was established that the fake erectile dysfunction pills had an accumulated wholesale value of more than $40,000.  As explained many times by Medical Specialists Pharmacy, the court was also made fully aware of the dangers of congesting counterfeit pills to the health of those who take them especially when counterfeit prescription medications contain active ingredients of unknown strength, extra added substances and produced in unknown, untraceable and often unhygienic disgusting premises.

He was eventually found guilty by a jury in February 2012 of numerous offenses including: one count of conspiracy to traffic counterfeit prescription medications bearing counterfeit trademarks, two counts of trafficking counterfeit prescriptions bearing counterfeit trademarks and two counts of selling and holding for sale counterfeit prescription medications with intent to defraud and mislead.
Demonstrating the seriousness of dealing with counterfeit medications, Zayyad must now self-report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. There are no chances of parole with a federal sentence.

If you are a male suffering with erectile dysfunction, safety and peace of mind is assured by obtaining genuine erectile dysfunction medication such as Pfizer’s Viagra from a reputable and trusted source such as Medical Specialists Pharmacy. We are fully registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and also a member of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA). Our team of Doctors are registered with the General Medical Council (GMC) and our Pharmacists are registered with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB).

Viagra and other medications for male impotence such as Cialis or Levitra are obtainable with or without a prescription. If you do not have a prescription, you can undergo a private and confidential online consultation with one of our Doctors and if suitable, they will write you a prescription. This is passed to our in-house Pharmacists, and dispensed and dispatched to you at your home, your place of work, or where ever you choose, discreetly within 24 hours.

Counterfeiters in Nigeria and America receive heavy punishment

Over the course of this calendar year, there has been an endless number of cases to emerge that involve the production and distribution of counterfeit medicines, and these are only the ones that authorities have managed to successfully shut down. There are illegal operations still active all across the globe, with criminals always trying to conjure up new methods of tricking the public into purchasing these dangerous medicines. However, their activities cannot and will not last forever, with Medical Specialists Pharmacy and many other organisations around the world determined to bring them to justice.

Therefore it brings us with great delight to report of two such instances to occur in the last few weeks of criminals finding their comeuppance. The first happened just 11 days ago in Nigeria and surprisingly did not involve erectile dysfunction medications, which seems to be a common type of counterfeited drug. Instead it was antimalarials such as Malarone and Paludrine that had found themselves being the source of imitation.

After receiving knowledge about the existence of the fake drugs, officers from The Nigerian National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) swooped onto a market within the south-eastern city of Enugu. After the raid, authorities had amassed a haul of $15,000 worth of fake pharmaceuticals, which could have proved fatal if sold to the unsuspecting public of Nigeria. Fake drugs are often manufactured in dirty, unhygienic warehouses and sometimes can contain little or no of the genuine active ingredient, or remarkably harmful industrial compounds.

Udekpo Ekpo, acting head, south-east zone at NAFDAC, spoke of the capture of the drugs and said, “This exercise was actually necessitated by reports that there are some fake brands of antimalarial drugs in the market. Some of them are in the market without NAFDAC registration number.”

Just one week after this bust in Nigeria, 40 year old Gregory Bochter found out the hard way that dealing with counterfeit drugs does not pay. Bochter, of Volusia County, Florida, initially submitted a guilty plea back in May to the trafficking of the two popular counterfeit erectile dysfunction medications, Viagra and Cialis.

He had obtained the fake pills from China, one of the world’s biggest exporters of counterfeit drugs. Homeland Security investigators had managed to intervene and apprehend one of his shipments and discovered in excess of 1,300 prescription pills. The pills only comprised of just 30% of their active ingredient, thus meaning they would probably be ineffective to any unsuspecting men who bought them.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials claim that even after they had seized Bochter’s delivery of fake pills, he then brazenly continued to be involved in more illegal trafficking for another two months. Unfortunately for him, he has now been sentenced to eight months behind bars and is being forced to cough up a hefty $150,000 in restitution fees.  If this wasn’t bad enough for, Bochter faces three years of supervised release upon his return to society in 2020.

Fake Cialis seized in Toronto, Canada.

Cialis is a Male Impotence treatment that contains the active ingredient tadalafil. The counterfeit produce contained the ingredient sildenafil instead, which is the active ingredient in Viagra. Sildenafil can pose health risks to certain people who would be unaware they were taking a drug Similar to Viagra. Both Cialis and Viagra are prescription drugs strictly for male impotence. It is illegal to sell or have on your person any prescription medication without a prescription. 

 Health Canada has advised that the fake Cialis in this case can be identified by close examination of the blister packs which contain the medication. Genuine Cialis blister packs in Canada will have a coloured oval which changes colour from copper to green if the package is moved up and down on the front of the pack, while counterfeit Cialis does not. The fake packs also list the ingredient ‘tadalafil’ in four different languages, instead of the usual two. In addition, the lot number 05668 is present on the counterfeit packs. 

Counterfeit medication is a multi-million pound illegal industry and despite the health risks associated with taking illegal prescription drugs, many people are tempted by the cost. 

In a press release, Health Canada advised:” In order to minimize health risks, Canadians should not take any prescription drug that has not been prescribed to them by a health care practitioner.” 

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