4 under investigation for selling illegal medicines over Internet
By Mustafa Shafawi, 938LIVE | Posted: 20 November 2009 1829 hrs

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SINGAPORE: The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said four individuals are currently under investigation for selling illegal medicines over the Internet.

The medicines include slimming pills and oral contraceptives.

The authority said it screened close to 110 Internet platforms ranging from discussion forums to online classified advertisements for potential breaches to Singapore's medicines legislation.

This was the result of its participation in a week-long 24-country campaign, dubbed Operation Pangea II, against websites selling illegal medicines.

It is the second time HSA is participating in the coordinated global cooperation.

Altogether, 750 websites were screened by the various regulatory agencies in the week-long sting operation.

Britain's Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said regulators seized almost 167,000 illicit and counterfeit pills.

The goals of the effort were to uncover makers and distributors of illicit drugs and increase public awareness about the danger of buying medical products over the Internet. - 938LIVE/vm