The Security Service of Ukraine and prosecutors have dismantled a large-scale scheme for producing and selling counterfeit weight-loss medicines. The fake medical products were sold across Ukraine.
This was reported by the Security Service of Ukraine.
According to the SBU, the criminal organisation included more than 70 people. By preliminary estimates, the perpetrators made millions of dollars from the scheme, which they spent on cars, property and luxury-brand goods.
The investigation found that the participants in the scheme smuggled into Ukraine an active pharmaceutical ingredient used in a well-known weight-loss drug. Using raw materials of questionable quality, they produced counterfeit products for weight loss and blood sugar control.
The production and storage of the medicines were organised in a clandestine laboratory in the Kyiv region. The work was carried out in unsanitary conditions.
The finished products were handed over to accomplices, who sold them throughout Ukraine. For advertising and sales, they used specially created online platforms, as well as contacts with medical centres and cosmetology salons.
To mislead customers, those involved used forged quality certificates.
During more than 250 searches, law enforcement officers found evidence of illegal activity and detained 27 participants in the scheme. Examinations initiated by the SBU confirmed that the medicines were counterfeit.
The detainees were served with notices of suspicion under Part 3 of Article 28 and Part 2 of Article 321-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — the falsification of medicines or the circulation of falsified medicines committed by an organised group.
The investigation is ongoing. Law enforcement officers are identifying everyone involved in the illegal activity.
The comprehensive measures were carried out under the procedural supervision of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office.