Police across Southeast Asia have arrested 27 people and seized $6.6 million worth of counterfeit anti-HIV drugs, antibiotics, and other medicines, Interpol said today.
The global police organisation said 16 million fake pills, also including anti-malaria and anti-tuberculosis drugs, were netted in Operation Storm, a five-month sting that ended in September.
Nearly 200 raids were carried out in Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam with the support of Interpol and the WorldHealth Organisation, it said in a statement.
The crackdown targeted individuals and groups involved in the manufacture and distribution of four classes of counterfeit medicines identified as posing "a significant public health risk," Paris-based Interpol said.
The operation "will provide a blueprint for future actions in targeting this type of criminal activity which affects every corner of the globe," Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said in the statement.
The results of the operation were released yesterday at the start of an international law enforcement training seminar on combating counterfeit drugs in Cambodia, Interpol said.