International sting brings down several illegal Rx operations

LONDON An international sting Wednesday covering nine countries busted several businesses alleged to be illegally selling medications online.

Codenamed Pangea, the sting took place in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, New Zealand and Singapore. Several locations within each of the countries were raided.

Medications sold through illegal online pharmacies are often unsafe due to contamination or counterfeiting.

“A medicine bought in this way has no guarantee that it is safe or that it is effective and can in fact be harmful,” said Danny Lee-Frost, head of operations of the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, in a statement.