Seventy-one-year-old man arrested after trying to sneak $70,000 worth of erectile dysfunction pills into the U.S.
South Korean man, 71, ‘brought 40,000 fake Viagra pills into the U.S. in his golf bag’
Erectile dysfunction pills were valued at more than $700,000
By Daily Mail Reporter
Published: 20:32 BST, 8 March 2012 | Updated: 08:59 BST, 9 March 2012
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A former law enforcement official from Korea was arrested Wednesday after attempting to traffic $700,000 worth of erectile dysfunction pills through Los Angeles International Airport.
Kil Jun Lee, 71, was returning from a trip to South Korea on Feb. 25 when the officers at LAX found nearly 40,000 counterfeit pills concealed in aluminum foil packets inside his golf bag, according to officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A close inspection of the bag turned up 29,827 counterfeit Viagra pills,
8,993 phony Cialis tablets and 793 fake samples of Levitra tablets.
A Homeland Security evidence bag is seen with nearly 11,000 phony Viagra pills confiscated from Mr Lee at Los Angeles International Airport
Fake Viagra can contain printer ink, drywall and the potent antibiotic Metronidazole, which can cause diarrhea and vomiting.
Asked whether the medication was for his own use, Lee told officers he had a heart condition, and if he used all the pills it would kill him, according to the criminal complaint.
An analysis by a federal forensics lab showed that none of the pills matched the ingredients in the real thing.
‘The trafficking of pharmaceuticals is a growing problem,’ ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice told the Los Angeles Times.
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‘Because these pills are in demand, and people realize money is to be made, people are trying to smuggle them in so they can sell them. We write about issues like this because we want to raise awareness of using these impostor medications they pose safety risk,’ she added.
Lee, 레비트라구입 a naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested at his Los Angeles apartment Wednesday morning by agents from Homeland Security Investigations.
He was charged with trafficking in counterfeit goods and was scheduled to make his initial appearance in court later Wednesday, though it was not immediately clear whether he has hired an attorney or entered a plea.
“When it comes to counterfeit pharmaceutical products, never has the expression ‘buyer beware’ been more true,” Claude Arnold, special agent in charge for HSI Los Angeles said in a statement.