The MHRA has arrested seven men in London and Slough, including two postal delivery drivers, in connection with the import and sale of unlicensed drugs.

MHRA enforcement officers worked with police and the UK Border Agency in a series of coordinated house raids this week, accompanied by C+D.

The MHRA suspects the arrested men, aged between 20 and 45 years, were involved in the illegal import and delivery of unlicensed Indian pharmaceuticals, including erectile dysfunction drugs. The operation was linked to the MHRA's seizure of unlicensed sex, diet and hair-loss drugs worth more than £500,000 in a raid on a west London flat in April.

The MHRA, police and the UK Border Agency seized paperwork, computers and mobile phones in a series of coordinated house raids	More on illicit medicines seizures Counterfeits peddler fined £5.6m after UK's 'most       serious' supply chain breach Loughborough duo convicted over £600,000 illicit       ED medicines haul MHRA seizes record £12m haul of unlicensed and       counterfeit drugs MORE NEWS
	The medicines watchdog believes parcels of unlicensed medicines were sent from India to UK addresses they were never intended to reach and intercepted before they were delivered.

Investigators seized paperwork, computers and mobile phones from the homes of the arrested men for examination by the MHRA.

The operation was unique for the MHRA because it was initiated by the seizure of drugs, rather than the investigation of a website involved with the illegal sale of pharmaceuticals, MHRA enforcement group head of operations Danny Lee-Frost told C+D.

"With this one, we don't know what website [it's] feeding. We're coming at it from the supply end, rather than the demand end," he said. "This is going to be a methodical plod through the evidence that we've got today to build a much bigger picture."

MHRA head of enforcement Alastair Jeffrey said the operation had been "long and complex". "The successful arrests show that we will not hesitate to take action against those we believe are involved in the illicit supply of medicines."

Last month, the MHRA seized a record haul of £12.2 million-worth of counterfeit and unlicensed drugs in the UK as part of a week-long international crackdown on the online illegal sale of medicines.