Authorities earlier this month seized three shipments containing thousands of pills and jelly laced with the active ingredient in Viagra, according to WHIO-TV and officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The shipments containing sildenafil were sent through the Port of Cincinnati, WHIO reported. Authorities said the illegally imported pill and jellies were found in two shipments of pens and a shipment marked as flavored jelly.
One shipment, bound for Snellville, Georgia, from India, contained 18,600 sildenafil pills. Another, sent from Singapore and headed to an address in Macomb, Illinois, included 700 jelly packets laced with the drug. The third package was sent from India and headed for the same address in Macomb with 10,000 sildenafil pills inside, authorities said.
In total, the pills and jellies would have been worth more than $865,000, according to officials.
In a statement Monday, authorities noted that online sales of prescription drugs from foreign markets have spiked amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. They cautioned that foreign sellers “may not have all pertinent information to comply with U.S. admissibility laws, and drugs made in foreign facilities may lack necessary oversight and good manufacturing practices ensuring patient safety.”
“Protecting our citizens from inferior products with unknown ingredients is a priority for our officers and specialists,” said Richard Gillespie, port director for the Port of Cincinnati.
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