Custodial Sentences For The Counterfeiters Of Pharmaceuticals

Extensive joint operation by Ecuadorian authorities breaks up illegal network responsible for putting counterfeit pharmaceuticals on the market. Case of considerable local media interest concludes with three year prison sentence for the perpetrator. Verdict continues the recent trend seen at judicial level in Ecuador of handing down custodial sentences to counterfeiters. A three-year prison sentence has been handed down to one of the defendants in a case of significant media interest in which Ecuadorian authorities broke up an illegal network producing and distributing counterfeiting pharmaceuticals. On April 17, 2018, following two rounds of appeal, the individual who went to trial received a three-year prison sentence after being held to be the perpetrator of the operation.

The news made waves when the network was originally apprehended towards the end of 2015, because of the sheer scale and detail of the illicit operation, encompassing a secret lab where the tablets were made, facilities for packaging and printing the house logo of a well-known pharma brand and even the printing of marketing authorizations, storage facilities, and finally distribution into informal sales channels. Following an anonymous complaint and several months of joint investigation by our firm, Customs, Intelligence Services, Police and the Attorney General, raids were conducted at several locations, seizing more than 2 million tablets which related to birth control, the treatment of...