Counterfeit Viagra has been seized by customs officials at East Midlands Airport. Over 4 months, Customs took over £1.6m worth of fake goods, which as well as the erectile dysfunction medication included imitations hair straighteners and cheap tobacco.
Over the 4 months, between the start of April and the end of July, the same amount of counterfeitgoods was seized as the amount discovered over the whole of the preceeding 12 months. Border officials said that the recession has created a surge in the counterfeit market, as consumers are especially eager for a bargain. However they added that it was dangerous, as people think they are getting a bargain but are sold unsafe goods.
Chris Bagley, operations manager for the area, said that customs were seeing a lot of counterfeit medications coming in, which is potentially very dangerous. Pfizer recently published a survey that showed that counterfeit Viagra could be made of anything, from rat poison to talcum powder.
He added that most of the goods were coming from China, Hong Kong, Thailand and Malaysia originally. Often sold online, foreign criminal gangs are setting up website addresses with ‘co.uk’ at the end to trick customers.