Nearly 2,000 unauthorised drugs and 200 bottles of a banned insecticide seized at Malpensa

From drugs for the treatment of important but unauthorised illnesses, around 2,000, to insecticide considered dangerous to health: this is what officials from the Customs and Monopolies Agency and financiers from the Malpensa Group (Provincial Command of the Varese Guardia di Finanza) seized at Malpensa airport as part of their vigilance and control activities.

Specifically, the control activity, carried out also through an analysis of the flow of passengers and cargo shipments, and the use of advanced screening tools, allowed 1,980 pharmaceutical products to be intercepted. 'The drugs found, some of which were not marketed in Italy, and therefore did not comply with the health regulations in force,' wrote the Agenzia del demanio e dei monopoli in a note, 'were intended for the treatment of cardio-cerebrovascular diseases, multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injuries, as well as being used in association with weight-loss diets.

Not only that, the control activities also led to the interception of 200 bottles of a 'powerful insecticide totalling 57 litres, with potential risk to public health'.

"Instead, the seized bottles contained dichlorvos, a compound used against bedbug infestations and other pests, known for its insecticidal efficacy, but extremely harmful to human health," the note further emphasises. "For this reason, its sale in the European Union has been banned since 2013, as inhalation, ingestion or mere skin contact with dichlorvos poses a lethal risk to the human body. Toxic effects include symptoms ranging from general malaise and eye irritation to more severe neurological and neuromuscular manifestations and respiratory distress'.

The seizures carried out at Malpensa airport are part of the controls carried out by the Customs Agency and the Guardia di Finanza with the aim of combating 'the import of medicines and other chemical products that are harmful and do not have marketing authorisations in Italy'. And the one at Malpensa is only the latest in a series of seizures at various Italian airports.