Source: Last Second - SP - 12/11/2009

JOÃO PESSOA - The police arrested five people this Thursday in João Pessoa, Paraíba, during Operation Sequela, launched to fight the sale of counterfeit and smuggled drugs in the city's drugstores.

According to prosecutor Francisco Glauberto Bezerra, a pharmacy was closed on Wednesday afternoon in the neighborhood of Industries in João Pessoa. The owner of the establishment was arrested and among the irregularities found was the marketing of a counterfeit drug used to treat erectile dysfunction.

On Thursday, four more pharmacy owners were arrested and more drugs were seized. “We found five types of medication that could only be distributed in the SUS (Unified Health System) hospital network. They were diverted and were being sold in pharmacies, ”said the prosecutor.

Operation Sequela is coordinated by the Public Ministry (MP) in Paraíba and has the support of the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), Health Surveillance, Procon and the Civil, Military and Federal police.

According to the MP, the name of the operation was chosen to alert people to the risks of these drugs, which, when they do not kill, leave “sequelae”.