By Alessandro Margottini
ANCONA. The seizure of drugs that were about to be introduced into Italian territory without the required authorizations is truly unprecedented in its size. But these drugs were intercepted and seized by the financiers of the Provincial Command of Ancona and by the officials of the Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM) on duty at the Dorico port.
A small part of the drugs seized by GDF and ADM at the port of Ancona
The huge batch of illicit drugs in question is the largest ever recorded in Italy. According to investigators, this shipment of pharmaceutical products could have generated profits of around 20 million euros, exposing the health of reckless users to risks that could also be serious.
The financiers and customs officers arrived at the discovery of the drugs during a check carried out on an articulated lorry, which had shortly before disembarked from a motor vessel coming from Greece.
It was not easy to identify the aforementioned illicit cargo since it had been well “masked” through a documentary stratagem, but the professionalism of the customs operators and the yellow flames made the expedient useless which did not prevent the discovery of over 2,100,000 doses of drugs of Indian origin, as specified above, all without the authorizations and certifications necessary for their importation and distribution in Italy.
It should be noted that over 80% of these doses contain the active ingredients Sildenafil, Tadalafil and Vardenafil, used in andrology for male dysfunctions but which must be taken only upon prescription and medical supervision.
Another detail worthy of note is that linked to the customs documentation provided for transport, on which the drugs were falsely indicated as “cosmetics” shipped by a Hellenic company (turned out to be unaware of the incident).
The appropriate checks instead revealed that on the 12 pallets transported on the vehicle – weighing 7 tons – there were instead pharmaceutical products bearing the names of Kamagra, Cobra, Careforce, Sexforce, Vilitra, divided into various forms (gels, tablets, sweets and effervescent tablets) but which have not obtained any marketing authorization from the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA).
Another disturbing detail that emerged in the story is linked to the presence of a very different category of drugs (specifically over 400,000 doses of Gonadotropin), i.e. hormones that are used to promote pregnancies but which on the black market in the sector are sought by athletes to increase strength and muscle mass.
To complete a picture that gives a good idea of the whole situation, there is also the presence of an antiepileptic drug which, beyond the important function it exercises in patients afflicted by this pathology, is often used to enhance the effects of drugs.
Due to the principle of the presumption of innocence, it should however be remembered that the persons subjected to investigation cannot be declared guilty in advance of an irrevocable sentence of conviction which ascertains their criminal responsibilities.
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