Effort Nets Fake Drugs, Agrochemicals

International police agency Interpol says it has arrested 185 people in five countries in South America and seized counterfeit and pirated goods worth more than $115 million. The goods seized included potentially life-threatening fake medicines, agrochemicals, substandard electrical goods, and other pirated products. The three-month, Interpol-led investigation brought together police, customs officials, and businesses affected by counterfeiting and piracy operations in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. “By working together, the business community and Interpol are striking severe blows against criminal counterfeiters and pirates while protecting the innovators, workers, and consumers who rely on legitimate and safe products and technologies,” says David Hirschmann, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center. Interpol says the operation was designed to combat the flow of counterfeit and pirated products from Southeast Asia through the ports of Iquique, Chile, and Montevideo, Uruguay. The distribution channels run by organized crime then led through Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru into Brazil and throughout South America. The Chamber of Commerce estimates that counterfeiting and piracy cost the U.S. economy $250 billion annually and have led to the loss of more than 750,000 jobs.