LONDON: A British court jailed three men for a total of 10 years on Thursday for their part in an international crime ring which bought fake drugs including Viagra in Asia before selling them on in Britain.
The operation bought bogus drugs for as little as 25 pence (0.3 euros, 0.5 dollars) in China and Pakistan before they were sold online to unsuspecting customers for up to 20 pounds (28 euros, 40 dollars) per tablet.
Gary Haywood, 59, Ashwin Patel, 25, and Zahid Mirza, 46, were sentenced after Ashish Halai, the operation's British ringleader, was jailed for four and a half years last month. Haywood received a six year sentence after being convicted of conspiring to sell fake medicines, selling medicines without a wholesaler's license and money laundering.
Mirza, who was not in the London court having absconded from bail, was jailed for two-and-a-half years after being convicted of selling fake medicine and selling medicines without a wholesalers' licence. And Patel got 18 months after his conviction on charges of conspiracy to supply fake medicines and selling medicines without a wholesaler's licence.
British officials were alerted to the huge manufacturing and supply ring, which also had operations in the United States, the Bahamas and Mexico, following a chance seizure of thousands of tablets.Investigators are still trying to work out how much money the men made from the scam.
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