Agents have seized a record amount of pharmaceuticals and "designer drugs" at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, officials say, pointing to the latest addition: 8,080 fake tablets of male erectile-dysfunction medicine, officials said Thursday.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents recently intercepted that much counterfeit Tadalafil at DHL's shipment hub at the airport.
The pills were "unsafe and manufactured by an unlicensed company," Customs officials said. The shipment, which originated in India, was destined for Belize in Central America.
They said the tablets were added to the "1,000-pound mountain of fake, illegal and dangerous tablets, powders and liquids that officers have seized at the hub" since the federal budget year began in October.
Agents have intercepted 300 shipments with illegal substances at the DHL express consignment hub thus far, compared to 209 during the same period last year - accounting for a record 43-percent increase, officials said.
The weight of this year's seizures of pharmaceutical-type drugs totals 1,046 pounds.
Officials noted earlier that seizures of narcotics such as cocaine and marijuana also were on the increase at the DHL facility. As of May, Customs agents had seized 556 shipments of those substances, which weighed more than 6,300 pounds. During the same period a year earlier, they had seized 365 shipments weighing 2,835 pounds.
David Murphy, director of Customs field operations in Chicago, said people need to beware ordering medication or other substances over the Internet from unlicensed companies.
"It may seem like a bargain and a way to save money in such economically hard times," Murphy said, "but they fail to realize that they can also lose their money, their health, and even their life."
He said Customs agents "protect people and legitimate businesses by seizing unsafe and unknown substances."
"The fact is that nobody knows what is in these items being manufactured by unlicensed companies. The ingredients, strength, dosages and manufacturing processes are an unknown, so in the end, it is really no bargain but rather a potential health risk," Murphy said.
Substances intercepted at DHL's Cincinnati hub include Tadalafil, Filagra, Xanax, counterfeit Viagra, Sildenafil and variations of synthetic marijuana.
Seized shipments range in size from thousands of tablets in plastic baggies and gallons of liquid to small parcels.
Source: http://news.cincinnati.com
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