BALTIMORE – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers throughout the Mid-Atlantic region continue to seize caches of counterfeit or unapproved COVID-19 medications, facemasks and test kits.
unapproved COVID-19 medicines since June.
Most recently, CBP officers at the Area Port of Washington, D.C. seized nearly 1,200 pills, including Hydroxychloroquine sulfate, and 100 unapproved test kits during the last two weeks.
Additionally, officers at the Area Port of Baltimore seized more than 600 facemasks imprinted with counterfeit trademarked logos representing Nike, Adidas, Fila and the Liverpool and Manchester City football clubs, among others brands.
Since June 5, officers at the Area Ports of Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, and the Ports of Harrisburg, Pa., Pittsburgh and Wilmington, Del., in consultation with FDA inspectors, completed 11 seizures that collectively included:
- 145 unapproved or counterfeit COVID-19 test kits;
- 337 unapproved or counterfeit COVID-19 antibody diagnostic kits;
- 792 unapproved or counterfeit N95 respirator masks and other face masks;
- 1,188 doses of Hydroxychloroquine sulfate, Dipyridmole, Doxycycline, Metformin; and
- 960 doses of Lianhua Qingwen Jianonangcee and Lianhua Qingwen Pian capsules;
unapproved COVID-19 facemasks.
These products are not on the current Emergency Use Authorization List nor are the manufacturers on the list of firms who have provided compliance notification to the FDA. As such, the products are inadmissible to the United States for violating the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
CBP is withholding specific details of individual seizures as many cases remain under investigation.
The products arrived from Ghana, Hong Kong, Kenya, Mexico, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom and were destined to addresses in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
“Predatory scammers continue to prey on consumer fear by peddling these counterfeit or unapproved and potentially dangerous products as legitimate COVID-19 protective equipment or medicines,” said Casey Durst, CBP’s Director of Field Operations in Baltimore. “Customs and Border Protection officers will continue to work with our consumer safety partners to identify and seize products that could potentially harm American citizens.”
CBP’s Baltimore Field Office officers have seen a steady flow of COVID-19-related seizures since March and announced 18 seizures of counterfeit and unapproved COVID-19 products in early May and an additional 12 seizures of COVID-19 related products in early June.
CBP's border security mission is led at ports of entry by CBP officers from the Office of Field Operations. Please visit CBP Ports of Entry to learn more about how CBP’s Office of Field Operations secures our nation’s borders.