ONE person accused of having illegally imported unlicensed medicines from India, the Middle East and the Far East, has been sentenced at Southwark Crown Court to a term of a total of three and a half years’ imprisonment. Antoine Christopher Kolias (31) was sentenced on June 28, who had unlicensed medicines sent to his parents’ address.
Illegal supply
The sentencing follows an investigation by the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s Criminal Enforcement Unit (CEU) into the illegal supply of unlicensed medicines.
According to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, Kolias was found to be acting as a distributor for an established unlicensed medicines dealer. He was also running his own unlicensed medicines business, selling quantities of sildenafil citrate (the active ingredient in Viagra) as well as Class C drugs tramadol, zopiclone and pregabalin between the summer of 2018 and October 2019, and again between 2020 and 2021, it added.
During a three-week trial at Southwark Crown Court the court heard how Kolias, after his first arrest, began selling products containing sildenafil on Amazon and eBay marketplaces, claiming the products were a ‘100% natural remedy’ and ‘risk free’. He ordered and designed his own packaging, selling the products under his own brand names; Vital-X, VigoreX and Vowex.
His activities came to the attention of the CEU following the interception of a series of parcels by UK Border Force officers during routine checks at airports and throughout the postal system.
Storage facilities
In October 2019, warrants were executed at two residential addresses and two storage facilities connected to Kolias in North London and Manchester. During a search of the London address, CEU officers found 97,000 tablets ranging from products marketed as treatments for erectile dysfunction to Class C drugs, tramadol and zopiclone, said the agency release earlier this month.
