A police operation in Africa led to the seizure of more than 12 million illicit pharmaceutical products and identified "hundreds" of suspects linked to the crime.

Operation Flash-IPPA ('Illicit Pharmaceutical Products in Africa'), coordinated by police cooperation agencies Afripol and Interpol, brought together drug control and law enforcement agencies from 20 African countries to dismantle these regional pharmaceutical organized crime networks.

According to Interpol, checks were carried out on roads, street markets, pharmacies, warehouses and places suspected of producing, storing or distributing counterfeit pharmaceuticals.

The source cited by Lusa indicates that among the seized products are two million anticonvulsant pills, 300,000 tablets for the treatment of epilepsy, 1,600 rapid tests for covid-19 and 208,000 masks.

Most of the seized drugs are antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, painkillers, and medications used to treat erectile dysfunction, rheumatism, and epilepsy.

Interpol has warned that the crisis related to the covid-19 pandemic has increased the trade in counterfeit pharmaceuticals.

Operations in West Africa revealed the use of counterfeit anti-covid-19 vaccination certificates attesting to vaccination in several countries, while in East Africa the unregulated illegal distribution and sale of genuine anti-covid-19 vaccines was discovered.

In Benin, more than 27 tons of counterfeit medicines were intercepted during a raid, which led to a series of regional and global investigations.

In Libya, more than 11.5 million painkillers and pills for treating childhood epilepsy were seized; and in Niger 300,000 pills for treating the same disease were seized.

Cocaine, cannabis, khat, methamphetamines, counterfeit food, oils, beverages, cigarettes and baby accessories were also seized during the operation.

The operation went on for two months, ended in December, and is now triggering related investigations on all continents into organized pharmaceutical crime groups operating in Africa.