Woman Nabbed For Bringing Home "cheap" Bangkok Medicines

[george]

Woman nabbed for bringing home "cheap" Bangkok medicines

CEBU: -- A 61-year-old Cebuana who arrived home Wednesday from a holiday in Bangkok was apprehended by Mactan-Cebu International Airport authorities who confiscated her luggage containing assorted medicines, including antibiotics and cosmetics creams.

The Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) were making a re-inventory of the drugs on suspicion that the medicine socks were unregistered for distribution in the Philippines and possibly counterfeit.

Carolina Montesclaros, a resident of Talisay City, readily admitted ownership of the medicine.

She said she travels twice a year to Asian countries and the United States. This was the first time, she said, that she thought of bringing home medicines and cosmetic creams in Bangkok because she was attracted to its inexpensive prices. She said she spent P198,000 for the goods.

Agents from the Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency (PDEA), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and Bureau of Customs-Mactan held Montesclaros for questioning after seizing 40,800 tablets of assorted medicines.

Also confiscated from her were 20 bottles of Mycostatin oral drugs and 300 tubes of Nisoral (5mg) ointment along with 552 units of Mena facial cream.

Montesclaros said she usually travel and every time she comes home she buys some things for her personal use and things she could sell.

"This time, I bought medicines because I was attracted to the price. They're very cheap there. I know what the medicines are for. They are mostly third generation antibiotics and ointments," she said.

Montesclaros said she was surprised at being apprehended and was willing to pay any taxes due on the items.

"I don't know if they are illegal. As far as I know they are not," she said.

Montesclaros arrived in Cebu from Bangkok on board Cathay Pacific at 11:28 a.m.

Carlito Ermac, chief of the K-9 group of PDEA, said his office was tipped off by the NBI that Montesclaros and one of her companions were scheduled to arrive in Cebu allegedly carrying illegal drugs worth P6 million from Bangkok. (PNA)

-- PNA/Ceby News 2006-07-20

[John K]

It does not sound to different than seniors in the USA making a run to Canada, however the medications are for their own use and would be illegal to sell.

[Scott]

I sure hope this doesn't fall into the category of "drug smuggling."

[PeaceBlondie]

In the story, the lady admits she not only bought them for her own personal use, but to resell. Also at the Mexican border, Americans and Canadians flock to cheap border towns in Mexico that are full of pharmacies that don't require presecriptions. But I think the US Border Patrol might confiscate huge quanitites as mentioned in the Filipine news article,

Do the USA and UK authorities watch for prescription-type drugs being brought in from Asia?

[OldAsiaHand]

....Do the USA and UK authorities watch for prescription-type drugs being brought in from Asia?

I don't know, but believe-it-or-not the last time I came in from the US two guys identifying themselves as Thai narcs (badges around their necks and the whole nine yards) went through everything I was bringing in through Don Muang and questioned my US perscription medications as well as the origin of a bottle of Tylenol! Seriously. They asked for copies of the original perscriptions for some sleeping pills I had with me and a bottle of antibiotics I was taking for a bad cold. I told them I didn't carry my perscriptions separately, but that all the same information and the doctor's authorization were both printed on the labels. Of course they labels were in English, and they seemed to have a bit of trouble with that.

Anyway, that sent them into a lengthy conference. After a while, they took a sample of each medication, even the Tylenol, and graciously consented to let me go with a stern warning that they would all be checked to see if I was telling them the truth!

This was the first time in nearly thirty years I have ever had a bag checked coming into Thailand. Maybe I'm looking increasingly sinister in my old age. One can hope........

[Scott]

Wow, I am going to have to be careful. I am a little bit like a walking pharmacy when I travel. I usually have several prescription medications for some long-term minor health problems as well as a bunch of other things for an assortment of problems.

[percy2]

Wow, I am going to have to be careful. I am a little bit like a walking pharmacy when I travel. I usually have several prescription medications for some long-term minor health problems as well as a bunch of other things for an assortment of problems.

I think its the quantaties and her assertion that she would resell that have caused the problem.

I often travel to remote areas and always take a good selection of meds with me , I will continue to do so.

[tourleadersi]

The classic one was a customer of mine buying a couple of dozen valium for her flight home and for use on future flights. I pointed out that as she didn't have a prescription she could get nailed for smuggling with intent to supply... She laughed at me.

Just found this on the BBC Website to do with drugs.

"(tranquillisers such as Valium, Temazepam) are Class C drugs, as well as some mild amphetamines. Possession could result in a two year prison sentence. The sentence for supply or intent to supply has increased to a maximum of 14 years imprisonment, plus a fine."

A good test is that if you need a prescription to get the drugs in the UK, then you should check on the ramifications of you bringing them in from outside without one. I doubt customs are going to 'lube up and rubber glove you' but they legally may be able too.

[astral]

I stock up on my needs when I go to India.

Blood pressure meds and the like.

It is a pity the production of Viagra and Cialis has been stopped there,

so that the big US manufacturers can come in sell the same thing at 10-20 times the price.

[wombat]

They are mostly third generation antibiotics and ointments,

does that mean they have been repackaged three times?

[Mr_Pedantic]

I always load up with medicines in particular penicillin so I don't have to wait a week to get an appointment at a UK doctors. I'm saving my time and theirs and curing any illness before it gets too bad.

[BlackJack]

40,800 assorted medicines

any wonder she got caught

i think it was the parrot she had stuck up her bum that gave it away though

[tracer0]

In the story, the lady admits she not only bought them for her own personal use, but to resell. Also at the Mexican border, Americans and Canadians flock to cheap border towns in Mexico that are full of pharmacies that don't require presecriptions. But I think the US Border Patrol might confiscate huge quanitites as mentioned in the Filipine news article,

Do the USA and UK authorities watch for prescription-type drugs being brought in from Asia?

Sounds more that she bought it in the wrong pharmacy...

[dezeure]

have you ever seen 40.800 pills laying next to one another and 500 tubes or pots of cream??? that is more than a suitcase full!!!

SD

[Rinrada]

Have you seen the price of medicines in the Philis.

About 10/12 years ago while walking (stagering) back to my hotel up in La Union i had the usual late encounter with a local dog and got bitten....the woff woff kind...

Next day just to be on the safe side I wandered into the local quack factory in San Fernando and got a bit of treatment and was given a prescrip. for a course in Anti Bios..but at almost... £50 a throw...WOT and bought from a local market stall.

At that time a room for the night was about a fiver,a san Mig around 50p and the average Local punter earned about 2 p and hour .....and some tabs were ...50 smackers.

The Doc also reconned that to be really sure if the mutt had rabies I had to go back and talk to its owner,Kill the dog, cut off its head ,remove its brains and bring back to the hospital for examination

£50 for a couple of tabs...believe that the dog later went mad...

[BROWNY]

[

Sounds more that she bought it in the wrong pharmacy...

no, sounds like she bought the whole pharmacy !

makes me feel better about sneaking my bottle of Paracetamol through UK Customs

[GuestHouse]

I sure hope this doesn't fall into the category of "drug smuggling."

I'm quite sure this falls into the far more serious offense of threatening the drug company proffits.

Much is said about liberalizing world markets - the exclusion being medicines.

[john b good]

I sure hope this doesn't fall into the category of "drug smuggling."

And why not ???

If this dame is breaking the law; she is breaking the law.

40,000 +++ pills and she worthy of your misguided sympathy. C'mon.

Stick it to her just like any other slime bag who considers themselves above the law

[qualtrough]

There certainly is room to make money buying pharmaceuticals in Thailand and selling them in the Philippines. I lived there two years and was unpleasantly surprised to find that just about everything was more expensive than its counterpart here, even though the country is much poorer.

[NordicMan]

Do the USA and UK authorities watch for prescription-type drugs being brought in from Asia?

Most Euro countries will watch for it. If you bring in large amounts of Viagra, Valium or steroids, you can sell them in the huge black market in western europe for 2-5 times the price you bought them for in pharmacy in Bangkok.

[Sturbuc]

Well, might happen too when somebody tries to bring in pharmaceutical merchandises to Germany. Only personal usage is permitted (NO drugs for a 3. party or your horse if not travelling with you

).

[legaleagle]

I don't think you can buy Valium in Thailand, can you? So no one needs to worry about bring V's unintentionally into Europe or other countries.

[Arkady]

A friend who lives in the Philippines found that his wife's birth control pills were less than half the price in Thailand for the same brand and took a few months' supply back. I think most foreign patented medicines are much more expensive in the Philippines due to agreements with the US. It is pathetic for Filipinos whose per capita income is much less than Thais to have a "popularist" government that makes them pay through the nose for pharmaceuticals. Of course it means that most sick people don't get effective medication. The same thing is probably in store for Thailand too if they sign an FTA with the US.

I imagine there are a lot of people doing the same thing as this woman - financing their travels through smuggling legal drugs. They can get them even cheaper in India but its not so much fun to travel there.

[brahmburgers]

Montesclaros said she was surprised at being apprehended and was willing to pay any taxes due on the items. "I don't know if they are illegal. As far as I know they are not," she said.

COMMENT: I admire her frankness. Encumbering, ambiguous or unfair laws need people like her to get straightened out. She's a catalyst for change, not a criminal. I hope the authorities go easy on her.

[aznyron]

In the story, the lady admits she not only bought them for her own personal use, but to resell. Also at the Mexican border, Americans and Canadians flock to cheap border towns in Mexico that are full of pharmacies that don't require presecriptions. But I think the US Border Patrol might confiscate huge quanitites as mentioned in the Filipine news article,

Do the USA and UK authorities watch for prescription-type drugs being brought in from Asia?

the Pharmicical companies are 1 big union but labor unions fighting for fair and livable wages are called communist by the conservatives and republicans and they pass laws like taft hartley right to work for cheep labor no bennies and easy for the company to fire you but a senior citizen trying to save a buck by going in to mexico or canada to buy a drug for his personal use is against the law ###### those drug companies they get tax dollors for R & D and then sell them to American people for huge profits that another reason why I live in thailand

[Breema_Ken]

They can get them even cheaper in India but its not so much fun to travel there.

The proper way of making this statement Arkady is to say:

" They can get them even cheaper in India but I don't find it much fun to travel there."

or

"They can get them even cheaper in India but some don't find it much fun to travel there."

In fact, there is a HUGE amount of people who LOVE to travel in India. Check out www.IndiaMike.com to tap into the community of India-lovers.

In my experience, India is more exotic and intriguing than Thailand. For me, India is a magical place. It is a pain in my ass at times, but there is no where as intriguing as there. And, although many Indians are unethical liars and cheats, so many other Indians are deeply sincere and loving.

World class beaches, the mighty Himalayas, diverse cultures, diverse climates, and so much more, let's not try to sum up the experience of being there as "not much fun."

++

As for the drug issues, she obviously was playing with fire. This is different from having extra, unaccounted for pills in your hand bag. I just got searched in America after returning from Thailand, and when he came across 5 little bottles with Thai writing scribbled on it by the doctor, he asked me what it was, I told him cold medicine, and he let me pass. I don't think he cared what the pills were for, simply that I wasn't bringing in quantities that would hit the market.

And, my dear skeptics, don't forget that governments do have a responsibility to monitor the safety of drugs in the marketplace. I wouldn't want to go to my local American drug store and get a knock off version of some pill that may or may not have the purity of the original. They monitor for many reasons, and profits is just one of them. By smuggling drugs, you can end up with inferior drugs, old drugs, ineffective drugs, etc. Let's not be to hard on governments for being involved in this industry.

For example, my Bangkok buddy tells me that the Indian version of Viagra gives him rashes on his neck/face the following day. You want that crap imported into your country by some traveller looking to make a few bucks? Keep Indian standards in India, and let each country set it's own standards. As they say, "you get what you pay for."

[califdann]

Lets all get a grip on reality:

With all that is going on with world terrorizm, actual drug smuggling, natural disasters, Thaksin, etc... in Thailand, not to mention the Arroyo regime corruption and beheadings in the South of the PI, a lady who is carrying 300 tubes of Nisoral (5mg) ointment along with 552 units of Mena facial cream gets arrested. Sure I know that the police have to enforce the laws, but this seems to me to be a bit overboard. Kinda like radio personality Rush Limbaugh being arrested for having non-prescription Viagra. What a joke.

DMC

[sillyfools]

It sounds to me like some of the X-Ray officers in Thailand tipped off law inforcement in the Phillipines.

They would notice it here, but it might have caused an international row arresting her here. They might even give here the death sentence if they found something dodgy in addition to the pills she already had.

She was leaving thailand. The thai officers probably called their counterparts to earn some good points, hoping they would be tipped off if there was similar traffic coming this way...

Apart from that... prosecution and action to take was now PH's problem as she is a Pinoy who just touched down in the Philippines.

Really hope to hear more how this story ends.

On a subnote.. My mom visits thailand 3 times a year. Never got checked for over 6 years already. She came here 2 times already this year. Full check of all luggage. I know that some months ago a group of thieves stealing items from unlocked baggage were caught. At about the same time inspections started to intensify....

Could it be part that things are related and part of the gang is looking into other ways to earn some money on the side.. The money they earned before from stealing items before they even arrived at customs?

[boes]

Just too stupid !

40.000 tablets. How can anyone expect to get this through the customs ? They just destroy everything for themselves (and for all other falangs)by their own greediness (trying to save money) / steen

[Old Geezer]

Slightly "Off-Topic" but since I haven't contributed anything & a while & had this on file:

The women that signed below are Budget Analysts out of federal Washington, D.C. offices.

Did you ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the active ingredient in prescription medications? Some people think it must cost a lot, since many drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet. We did a search of offshore chemical synthesizers that supply the active ingredients found in drugs approved by the FDA. As we have revealed in past issues of Life Extension, a significant percentage of drugs sold in the United States contain active ingredients made in other countries.

In our independent investigation of how much profit drug companies really make, we obtained the actual price of active ingredients used in some of the most popular drugs sold in America.

The chart below speaks for itself.

Celebrex 100 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $130.27

Cost of general active ingredients: $0.60

Percent markup: 21,712%

Claritin 10 mg Consumer Price (100 tablets): $215.17

Cost of general active ingredients: $0.71

Percent markup: 30,306%

Keflex 250 mg Consumer Price (100 tablets): $157.39

Cost of general active ingredients: $1.88

Percent markup: 8,372%

Lipitor 20 mg Consumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37

Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80

Percent markup: 4,696%

Norvasec 10 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $188.29

Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14

Percent markup: 134,493%

Paxil 20 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $220.27

Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60

Percent markup: 2,898%

Prevacid 30 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $44.77

Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01

Percent markup: 34,136%

Prilosec 20 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $360.97

Cost of general active ingredients $0.52

Percent markup: 69,417%

Prozac 20 mg Consumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47

Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11

Percent markup: 224,973%

Tenormin 50 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $104.47

Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13

Percent markup: 80,362%

Vasotec 10 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $102.37

Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20

Percent markup: 51,185%

Xanax 1 mg Consumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79

Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024

Percent markup: 569,958%

Zestril 20 mg Consumer price (100 tablets) $89.89

Cost of general active ingredients $3.20

Percent markup: 2,809%

Zithromax 600 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19

Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78

Percent markup: 7,892%

Zocor 40 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $350.27

Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63

Percent markup: 4,059%

Zoloft 50 mg Consumer price: $206.87

Cost of general active ingredients: $1.75

Percent markup: 11,821%

Since the cost of prescription drugs is so outrageous,

I thought everyone I knew should know about this. Please read the following and pass it on. It pays to shop around. This helps to solve the mystery as to why they can afford to put a Walgreen's on every corner.

On Monday night, Steve Wilson, an investigative reporter for Channel 7 News in Detroit, did a story on generic drug price gouging by pharmacies. He found in his investigation, that some of these generic drugs were marked up as much as

3,000% or more. Yes, that's not a typo.....three thousand percent!

So often, we blame the drug companies for the high cost of drugs, and usually rightfully so. But in this case, the fault clearly lies with the pharmacies themselves. For example, if you had to buy a prescription drug, and bought the name brand, you might pay $100 for 100 pills. The pharmacist might tell you that if you get the generic equivalent, they would only cost $80, making you think you are "saving" $20. What the pharmacist is not telling you is that those 100 generic pills may have only cost him $10!

At the end of the report, one of the anchors asked Mr. Wilson whether or not there were any pharmacies that did not adhere to this practice, and he said that Costco consistently charged little over their cost for the generic drugs. I went to the Costco site, where you can look up any drug, and get its online price. It says that the in-store prices are consistent with the online prices. I was appalled.

Just to give you one example from my own experience, I had to use the drug, Compazine, which helps prevent nausea in chemo patients. I used the generic equivalent, which cost $54.99 for 60 pills at CVS. I checked the price at Costco, and I could have bought 100 pills for $19.89. For 145 of my pain pills, I paid $72.57. I could have got 150 at Costco for $28.08. I would like to mention, that although Costco is a "membership" type store, you do NOT have to be a member to buy prescriptions there, as it is a federally regulated substance. You just tell them at the door that you wish to use the pharmacy, and they will let you in. (this is true, I went there this past Thursday and asked them.)

I am asking each of you to please help me by copying this letter, and passing it into your own email, and send it to everyone you know with an email address.

Sharon L. Davis Budget Analyst U.S. Department of Commerce Room 6839 Office Ph: 202-482-4458 Office Fax: 202-482-5480 Email Address: [email protected]

Mary Palmer

Budget Analyst

Bureau of Economic

Analysis Office of Budget & Finance

Voice: (202) 606-9295

Fax: (202) 606-5324

MODS: I received this LONG ago & canNOT vouch for it's authenticity. Please feel free to edit as you see fit.

...O.G.