Fake Viagra dealer gets his comeuppance

A UK man has been jailed for a year for distributing up to 24m fake erectile dysfunction pills, with the judge wanting to send a clear message to others tempted by the illicit trade.

David Pearson, 59, from Teesside in the north east of England, was found guilty of using his courier company, Teesside Couriers, to import unlicensed versions of Pfizer’s Viagra impotence pills from India and illegally distribute them between January 2014 and April 2016.

Up to 2.9m blister packs were believed to be distributed by Pearson, at a value of £37m The Sun reported.

There was no evidence that people sold the drugs had been harmed by the medication.

“Under the guise of a legitimate courier business, you showed blatant disregard for the unlicensed medicines regulations, on a significant scale over a substantial period of time,” the Daily Record reported the judge John Thackray as saying. “You distributed on a wholesale basis for profit. You were no doubt making significant profits.”

The judge added: “You had no knowledge whatsoever as to the safety of the medical products that you were distributing, and you knew perfectly well that you should not have been distributing these unlicensed medicines.”

“You are only interested in making significant profits whatever the risk to others,” the judge said. “Others must be deterred. The offences are serious and the public need and require protection.”

According to The Sun, Pearson imported the tablets from Mumbai, India, and sold them online at a price of £13 for eight pills. He is believed to have distributed around 8,500kg of tablets. 

During the court case, Pearson denied any wrongdoing, claiming he was merely a courier, was not aware of the orders and did not knowingly import or distribute unlicensed medicines. According to GazetteLive, he said he had been approached by a man looking to store goods from India and then to have them forwarded to clients.

The court heard that 11 consignments were intercepted by authorities, including one seized at Heathrow that contained more than 437,000 Kamagra tablets, which contain the same active ingredient as Viagra. Eighty-six consignments successfully made it through customs and border security, the court was told.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency also repeatedly warned Pearson of the offence of distributing unlicensed medicine. However, he ignored these warnings, lying to the authorities that he would stop and falsely claiming his courier business had closed down, the judge said.

Investigators raided Pearson’s house and business in April 2016, seizing more than 60,000 units of medicine at his house and more than 21,000 at his business. Further boxes of tablets were found at an address in London.

“You had no intention of stopping and you continued,” Thackray said. “You prepared fictitious invoices which you have put before the jury in this case, which they have rejected.” He added: “It’s clear in my judgement that you are a dishonest man.”

Pearson was convicted on to charges of distributing medicines without a wholesale dealer’s licence, and possessing and acquiring criminal property.