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POP UP SHOP
Inside the world’s largest illegal ‘Viagra’ factory feeding randy Brits’ endless appetite for sex pills
Police seize more than 100,000 fake pills and 430,000 vials of steroids worth £3.5million
POLICE in Poland have busted what is believed to be the the world's largest illegal laboratory producing counterfeit Viagra pills.
Footage released today shows the inside of the huge operation which was manufacturing fake sex pills to feed the UK's growing demand.
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Fourteen people were arrested this week after Polish cops raided the plant which also specialises in body-building steroids .
"It was the world's largest factory making anti-impotence drugs according to representatives of four companies whose products were counterfeited," police spokeswoman Agnieszka Hamelusz revealed.
She said police had seized more than 100,000 fake pills for erectile dysfunction and 430,000 vials of steroids worth an estimated £3.5million during the raid near the northern city of Bydgoszcz.
Officers also arrested 14 suspects over the course of several months, Hamelusz confirmed.
Police allege the gang sold millions of euros worth of the counterfeit drugs via the internet, labelling them with popular brand names as well as their own branding.
A police swoop on a house turned up machines worth a million euros installed in secret rooms that could only be accessed through hidden passages.
Products for the manufacture of the drugs came from China via Greece, Britain and Romania.
The black market trade of Viagra has risen to historic heights, as drug regulators report a record seizure of fake Viagra.
MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency) seized approximately £11million-worth of counterfeit Viagra in raids carried out across the UK in 2015.
This amounts to the largest volume of unlicensed erectile dysfunction (ED) drugs ever seized.
Fake impotency pills now account for 90 per cent of all counterfeit drugs seized in 2015.
The circulation of counterfeit Viagra has received a massive boost from internet sales, and it is estimated that up to 77 per cent of Viagra bought online is fake.
Fake Viagra pills can be bought online for as little as £2.
Many illegal sellers even pose as online pharmacists on their websites.
They are often fraudsters operating their trade out of a garden shed.
However, the scale of the problem goes far beyond Europe– the Viagra manufacturer Pfizer has already identified fake versions of the pill in 111 countries.
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Interestingly, a significant amount of black market demand for Viagra comes from those who don’t even need it.
Whilst erectile dysfunction (ED) in young men is an issue – one in four patients newly diagnosed with ED are under 40 - it is believed the black market is mainly used by young men who want to use Viagra recreationally.
Many take it as a fail-safe, giving them a psychological boost to help them perform, even though they have no problems getting an erection.
How dangerous is fake Viagra?
Being completely unregulated, there is no way of knowing how fake Viagra is produced, or indeed what the drugs actually contain.
A large amount of fake Viagra pills seized in the UK are believed to be produced in India in medically questionable circumstances. The locations in which the drugs are produced are often unhygienic and may expose the drugs to toxic chemicals.
Fake Viagra pills themselves can be laden with toxic ingredients. Lab-tested fake Viagra pills have revealed a horrifying cocktail of ingredients, from detergents, to road paint, to talcum powder.
Not knowing the dosage of Viagra’s active ingredient (sildenafil) in any given pill can itself be dangerous.
Sudden dosage changes can be dangerous if you are used to a lower dosage.
Some fake Viagra pills don’t contain any of the active ingredient at all.
Taking fake Viagra can lead to serious side effects, including visual problems, fainting, dangerous changes in blood pressure, and even heart problems.
Source Lloyds Pharmacy
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