South Africa is fertile ground for counterfeit medicines and other illegal products‚ which are easily available in shops or online.

Twenty minutes is all it took for a reporter from The Times to find counterfeit Viagra at a Johannesburg flea market and to buy skin-lightening soaps and creams that are banned by the Foodstuffs‚ Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act.

An online search for weight-loss supplements‚ and for Viagra obtainable without a prescription‚ popped up addresses for at least five websites.

An Interpol co-ordinated operation in 115 countries targeted the sale of fake drugs by illicit online sources.

Working with Google‚ Mastercard‚ Paypal‚ the Permanent Forum on International Pharmaceutical Crime‚ and the Heads of Medicines Agencies Working Group of Enforcement Officers‚ among others‚ the operation resulted in the suspension of 550 online advertisements for illicit pharmaceuticals and 2414 websites were taken offline.