More than 7,800 seizures of illicit and mislabeled medicines and medical devices, totaling $3 million and products valued at $11 million, were seized through Operation Pangea XV, carried out by the 94 member countries of Interpol.
This international action was carried out for a week against illegal online pharmacies and allowed more than 4 thousand web links to be investigated, mainly from social media platforms and messaging applications. Likewise, more than 4,000 web links that contained advertisements for illicit products were closed, approximately 3,000 packages and 280 postal centers were inspected at airports, borders, and distribution and cargo post offices. More than 600 new investigations were also opened and more than 200 search warrants were issued.
According to the deputy director of Judicial Investigation, Pablo Villarreal, this operation was carried out from June 24 to 30 of this year, and had 50 control actions that included the verification of establishments and pharmacies, containers and websites; seizing 275,075 units of medicines of different types, which did not have health records, valued at B/. 222,195.44.
Villarreal highlighted that the products with the greatest irregularities detected in Panama were those called Sildenafil, Ampicillin and Amoxicillin.
He added that about 138 legal proceedings against pharmacies that have presented irregularities in the sale of medicine at the national level, are maintained to date by the competent authorities. Unauthorized and counterfeit medicines can be dangerous due to several factors, such as containing the wrong amount of ingredients as well as alteration in the expiration date of the product.
