Counterfeit clippings: global news round-up

Our latest round-up of counterfeit news items from around the world includes updates from Qatar, the UK, India, Pakistan and China.

New laws in Qatar that will liberalise the market for pharmaceuticals could lead to an influx in imported counterfeit medicines, according to a report in The Penninsula. The new laws will remove state-mandated price-fixing for medicines and do away with exclusive dealerships for pharmaceuticals, introducing a typical supply and demand market, and are aimed at reducing medicine prices. "Market sources argue that liberalised imports could also lead to counterfeit medicines entering the hitherto safe Qatari market, especially if the state monitoring is lax," says the report.

Trading standards officers in the UK uncovered around 8,000 fake Viagra tablets and counterfeit clothing at a home in Northampton, reports the Northampton Chronicle. The find led to the arrest and arraignment in court of Victor Cheke, a 41-year-old man who has been charged with importing a prescription drug for sale without a license, possessing a medicinal product for supply without authority and possessing clothing with a false trade mark for sale. A preliminary hearing will take place next month at Northampton Crown Court.

Airline staff in India are involved in "rampant smuggling" of items such as garments, counterfeit medicines and electronic good, according to an article on NDTV.com. The report says that India's Intelligence Bureau will work in coordination with the Air Intelligence Unit, Customs and airport authority to investigate the case.

Pakistan's health ministry has blacklisted various pharmaceutical companies that have been involved in supplying counterfeit medicines to prisoners detained in jails in Peshawar and Mardan, reports the Islamabad-based International News Network.  The action was taken in the wake of a sampling study in the country which discovered that 50 out of 260 medicines tested were fake.

A crackdown against counterfeit medicines, foods, cosmetics and other goods in China's Guangdong province has resulted in the detention of more than 2,000 people and the shutdown of 546 manufacturing units, according to a report from new agency Xinhua. Operation Liang Jian (Sharp Sword) will continue throughout 2011, according to Xu Wenhai, director of Guangdong's economic crimes unit.