Spain arrests Pakistani man for trying to smuggle viagra

BARCELONA: Police in Spain said Friday they arrested an Indian woman and a Pakistani man suspected of peddling hundreds of thousands of illegal erectile dysfunction pills across Europe.

The couple is suspected of receiving the drugs by post from India, police in the northeastern Catalonia region said in a statement.

Officers arrested the two on February 24 in Premia de Mar, a coastal town north of Barcelona.

They are accused of trafficking illegal medicine and belonging to a criminal organisation.

"They were selling more than 150,000 pills a month," which they received in parcels from India, "a country with a tradition of manufacturing illegal medicines for Europe", the statement added.

The racket had been operating since 2012 and last year alone they dispatched 2,900 parcels to customers around Europe, but mostly in Germany.

Police investigated after a post office reported finding a punctured parcel containing a large number of erectile dysfunction pills.

It was addressed to a mobile phone accessory shop that the couple is suspected of running as a front.

Police raided the shop and the couple's home. They intercepted 65 parcels addressed to countries across Europe and seized more than 400,000 pills.

A judge identified the 53-year-old man as the suspected leader of the racket and remanded him in custody, the statement added.