« May 2007

Raids in Europe Crack Ring Selling Counterfeit Acomplia on Internet
Mayl 11, 2007

Simultaneous police raids conducted on April 24, 25 and 26 involving five European countries resulted "in the dismantling of a network of internet sales of counterfeit pills of the drug Rimonabant (Acomplia),” according to Eurojust, the European Union's Judicial Cooperation Unit.

The investigation, initiated by the public health department of the Paris public prosecutor's office, led to a coordinated series of searches based on European Arrest Warrants in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Romania.

The raids and arrests were the culmination of an eight-month investigation which began after a U.K. citizen was apprehended in France with a single bottle of counterfeit Acomplia.

The French investigators said they had uncovered an international traffic in counterfeit Acomplia, "produced in unhygienic environments," then sold over the internet and consumed "in amounts in violation of the regulations and without any medical control."

Eurojust did not provide names or web addresses of the internet sites selling the counterfeit Acomplia.

"The counterfeiting of such pills constitutes a serious fraud and an important health risks as they are made widely available via the internet to all consumers, including minors," a Eurojust spokesperson said.

The raids within the different countries were led by officers from France's Central Brigade for Industrial and Artistic Fraud and the Central Office for the Fight Against Crimes using Technology and Communications.