Norwegian customs seizes 'Internet drugs'

The Norwegian customs authorities have reported a 2,000 per cent increase in seizures of illegal medical products this year. The dramatic rise in the trade is being blamed on the Internet.

Norwegian citizens are using the Web to purchase drugs from foreign countries, where they are perfectly legal. They are then imported as air cargo and as express shipments. These substances are unavailable - and illegal - in Norway.

Customs officials confiscated 405,000 banned substances between January and August, compared to 21,000 items seized last year.

But it's doubtful if the authorities' efforts will do any good.

"Governments want to stop something that's impossible to stop," said Peter Lines, VP for Europe at research house, Killen and Associates.

Lines believes that this is another example of how the Web is creating a freedom that governments wouldn't normally allow.

He also expressed the need to legalise the outlawed medicines. Otherwise, he claimed, "It's handing a business opportunity to criminals."