Over 25 million illegal medicines seized in international action; 50,000 in Netherlands

Interpol intercepted over 25 million illegal and potentially dangerous medicines in an international operation involving 123 countries. In the Netherlands, customs officers seized 50 thousand illegal medicines, the Healthcare Inspectorate said in a press release, RTL Nieuws reports.

Illegal medicines are medicines made without the permission of the Ministry of Health and do not have a commercial license. It is often unclear exactly what these medicines contain. Many of them involve knock-off drugs. As there are no official permits, medicines can contain other substances than the original. This could cause them to be ineffective, or even dangerous.

The Dutch customs officers inspected a total of 10 thousand mail packages and seized 315 of them. They mostly found illegal erection medicines, diet pills, sleeping aids and tranquilizers. Many of the packages came from India, Thailand and China, according to the broadcaster.