Operation Apothecary Affirmed by ICE
The U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, in conjunction with other US agencies, has reaffirmed the targeting criminals selling unapproved, adulerated, or counterfeit medicine in the United States.
Operation Apothecary, initiated in 2004, focuses on internet crime, specifically criminal use of the internet to purchase pharmaceuticals.
Says the ICE, “Criminals, posing as legitimate pharmaceutical providers, advertise prescription grade drugs and/or inexpensive alternatives without requiring a valid prescription. The consumer purchases the pharmaceutical with the belief that the product advertised is a legitimate product, but in fact, is often purchasing a counterfeit or unapproved version of the drug that has often been manufactured in unsanitary conditions or not subjected to any safeguards or quality control regimes.“
The operation is working to stop medicine criminals on two fronts. Agents are detecting violations at the border, and investigating traffickers of fake drugs and medical devices by measuring and addressing vulnerable entry points into the U.S., through which commercial quantities of counterfeit medication can be smuggled. Additionally, agents are searching for domestic organizations that illegally import these products, and dismantles foreign organizations that sell and ship into the U.S., as well as seizing shipments of illegal medicines.
ICE is working with Customs and Border Protection, the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and consists of mail surge operations throughout ports of entry into the U.S.