Three guilty in record drug swindle
Monday, 17 Sep 2007 19:56
The counterfeit drugs were supplied by a global crime network
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Three men have been found guilty of involvement in Britain's biggest ever counterfeit drugs operation, it emerged today.
Gary Haywood, 58, of Leicester, Ashwin Patel, 24, of London, and Zahid Mirza, 45, of Ilford in Essex, were all found guilty of involvement in the conspiracy to smuggle and supply counterfeit drugs in and out of the UK at Kingston crown court in February.
Among the products they claimed to be providing were Viagra, Cialis and Propecia, while they also supplied falsely described products like "Calcium for Kids" and "Vitamins C & E".
A further conspirator, 31-year-old Ashish Halai of Borehamwood in Hertfordshire, had previously pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy and has been jailed for four and a half years.
The gang used licensed wholesalers and internet sites to distribute their multimillion-pound, industrial-scale operation of counterfeit medicines between 2002 and 2005.
They were caught when HM Revenue & Customs seized £1.5 million worth of counterfeit medicines at Stansted airport in the autumn of 2002.
Further operations uncovered a network of crime linked to a global counterfeiting ring which operates from China, India and Pakistan.
"This successful prosecution should serve as a clear signal to those contemplating the supply of counterfeit medicines," Mick Deats, head of enforcement at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, said.
"The public are strongly advised to avoid buying medicines online, where the risk of being provided with counterfeit medicines is greatly increased," he added.
Sentencing of the three convicted men will take place at a later date.