Headline Sep24,2012/

''ARSENIC-NICKEL-BRICK 
DUST-FLOOR  POLISH !''

One fake prescription drugs ring was first exposed in November 2002, when customs staff at Stansted airport intercepted a package from Dubai containing 12,000 fake pills addressed to Haywood. Over the course of six months, this salesman from Leicester, who was later given six years jail sentence, arranged for around 500,000 fake pills to be smuggled through customs in packages with false labels such as ''Vitamin supplement for dogs'' and ''Calcium for Kids''.

The case was a triumph for this little known Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency =MHRA- the government body responsible for the safety of medicine.The MHRA is situated in Vauxhall, one block from MI6's Headquarters, the hi-tech building that looks like it ought to play host to International Rescue and its thunderbirds. By contrast, the MHRA is based in a glum 21 floor concrete and glass tower.

The man in charge of the Agency's investigation -an over 60 are currently active- and intelligence is Naeem Ahmed. His team of over 40 investigators, mostly police and customs officers, has a brief to stop counterfeiters from infiltrating the fake drugs into NHS supply chain. According to Nasim Ahmed, the counterfeits are becoming increasingly difficult to detect: ''I had some security experts from the pharmaceutical companies to take a look at two sample packs,and they said one pack was definitely fake. And it was not.

In 2007, fraudsters felt the sharp end of a nationwide MHRA operation, code named ''Rome'', in which five operational raids took place in Middlesex, Canterbury and Preston. It was the five culmination of a five month investigation into 51 Internet Sites.In one particular swoop the setting was a freshly rendered Thirties property with a high performance BMW outside. Supported by a van full of uniformed officers, the MHRA arrived with the milkman,and, an hour later emerged from the property with a haul that comprised 1,200 tablets of the stimulant ephedrine, only available via prescription in the UK, and a spray containing a banned substance as its active ingredient.

While pleased with its many successes Nasim Ahmed has a tough future ahead with many uphill battles. There are currently more than 2000 websites selling illegal drugs online. The Agency has noticed an alarming situation in the form of a shift from Bogus Lifestyle Drugs to Life Saving Ones, such as medicines used to fight Cancer. In 2004, counterfeit boxes Cialis, to treat impotence, and Reductil to treat obesity, were discovered. In 2005, these criminals began to target Lipitor, a best selling anti cholesterol drug, leading to 120,000 packs being withdrawn from sale.And only recently, investigators found dummy versions of Casodex, used to treat prostrate cancer, two lots of the blood thinner Plavix, and the anti schizophrenia drug. -Zyprexa. The value of the three drugs recalled was pound 6 Million.

In all, 40,000 fake packs of these drugs were seized in the UK alone, but about 30,000 packs apparently made it into the market, presumably to be consumed by sick patients or to sit unnoticed in chemists, hospitals and bathroom cabinets throughout the country.

Good Night and God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless