Indonesia’s National Agency for Drug and Food Control (BPOM) has identified 83 sites which promote illegal and fake drugs/medicines online, according to Detik. This effort is part of an Interpol special operation, conducted internationally, to track the online promotion of illegal drugs. This operation’s codename is Pangea.
In Indonesia, Operation Pangea V was conducted by BPOM, the National Police, the Attorney General’s Office, the Ministry of Communications and IT, and the Director General of Customs. The operation ran from September 25th to October 2nd. The chief of BPOM, Lucky S. Slamet, MSc, raised his concerns at a press conference today:
The circulation of fake drugs via the internet is already categorized as organized crime. It is certainly of concern to us because illegal drugs are so easily accessible to the public.
The Ministry of Communications and IT admitted that it can not simply shut down the rogue e-commerce sites although they contain illegal products. There is the Nawala project that serves to block pornographic sites, but drug sites will require pharmacies to report to the agencies.
The sub-director of investigation and enforcement from the ministry, Aidil Chendramata, said that it can not directly block the sites because BPOM is the one who monitors the ingredients of the drugs, and can then determine if they are fake or not. The chief of BPOM and the task force will submit proposals to the Ministry of Communication to block the sites.
The operation was conducted in the province of Jakarta and Yogyakarta. As the result, 66 illegal drug items worth approximately Rp150 million (over $15,000) was confiscated. The task force also found four cases that are legally actionable, and two people suspected of being illegal drug sellers were successfully arrested.
Operation Pangea itself has been run five times. The first was organized in 2008 in eight countries, Pangea II conducted in 2009 in 25 countries, Pangea III in 2010 in 44 countries, and Pangea IV in 2011 in 81 countries. This year, Pangea V took place in 100 countries.
[Source: Detik.com]
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