Mexico, Feb 18 (NNN-Prensa Latina) — Mexico ranks sixth in the sale of stolen medicines, the Association of Pharmaceutical Research Industries revealed in a report of that illicit activity in recent years.

The report indicates that six out of every 10 drugs offered in the country are stolen, expired, counterfeit, recovered or without minimum quality requirements.

The Federal Commission considers illegal medicines the production without the fulfillment of sanitary regulations, medical samples in sale and expired expiration.

On May 15, the Undersecretary of Development Integration, Cristina Laurell, revealed that expired medicines with a value of 200 million pesos ($10 million dollars) were located in the main warehouse of the Health Ministry in Veracruz.

According to data from the National Chamber of the Pharmaceutical Industry counterfeiting of drugs and their illegal trade leave organized crime profits of more than 11,500 billion pesos ($575 million dollars) annually.

In the last six years the authorities conducted 226 operations to bring down the illegal drug market, resulting in the seizure of 565 tons of product.

The entities where the largest amount of apocryphal and stolen product seized were in Mexico City, Jalisco, State of Mexico, Puebla, Chiapas, Veracruz and Guanajuato, among others. — NNN-PRENSA LATINA