Smuggler who made £5m from fake Viagra is jailed

Ashish Halai, 31, and his pharmacist wife Nayna smuggled the pills into the UK from China before distributing them to customers over the Internet.

Investigators described the plot as the biggest counterfeit medicine scam uncovered in Britain.

Some of the fake pills even got into the legitimate supply chain.

Halai, described as the "lynchpin" of the British end of the operation, earned an estimated £5million over a five-year period.

He and his wife, who have two young children, used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle of exotic holidays, sports cars and a £1million home in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.

The trade was exposed in November 2002 after customs officers intercepted a package containing fake pills addressed to fellow conspirator Gary Haywood.

Some 117,000 fake Viagra pills were found at his home in Barwell, Leicestershire.

Haywood, 59, arranged for the pills to be smuggled through Customs in packages with false labels such as "vitamin supplements for dogs".

During an undercover operation, he falsely told officials he was a pharmacist and an international sales manager for Viagra manufacturer Pfizer.

He also boasted that he could supply a million pills every month.

Sandip Patel, prosecuting, told the court: "The scale of the conspiracy was unparalleled in its depth and breadth.

"It was truly global and the rewards for those involved were immense."

Halai used his company Stormgrand Enterprises as cover to sell pills labelled as Viagra or Cialis, another popular drug for impotence. He also sold fake Propecia pills for male pattern baldness.

He paid as little as 25p each for the pills and charged up to £20.

The global trade in counterfeit prescription-only medicines is worth more than £10billion a year, with

Viagra and other anti-impotence drugs among the most popular.

Demand for the pills on the internet is high because many men are too embarrassed to see a doctor to get a prescription.

But Viagra can be fatal if taken by those with heart conditions and fake versions of it sometimes contain excessive doses of the active ingredients.

Halai pleaded guilty at Kingston Crown Court to conspiracy to sell prescriptiononly medicines and conspiracy to use registered trademarks without permission.

His wife, who admitted similar offences, had earlier been sentenced to 80 hours' community service.

Haywood was convicted last month of conspiracy to distribute fake pills and money laundering.

He will be sentenced next month.

Two other defendants in the case have been convicted and are awaiting sentence.

Four others are facing a retrial next year after the jury failed to reach verdicts.