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The Tax and Customs Authority, within the framework of the “STOP” operation, seized or refused to import nearly five million masks, 63 thousand personal protective equipment (PPE) and five thousand digital thermometers.
“Although exceptional temporary measures were established during the period of the operation in terms of conformity certification testing of medical devices and PPE, the controls carried out by AT resulted in the seizure or denial of importation 4,761,600 masks (of which about 134,000 are considered PPE), as well as 62,627 items of personal protective equipment (of which 45,472 protective suits and gowns, 10,375 visors, 6,780 glasses) more than 5000 digital thermometers“reads a note published on the Finance portal.
The World Customs Organization organized, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a global emergency operation (“STOP”), which took place between May 11 and July 12, in which 99 countries participated. Portugal integrated this operation through the Tax Authority (TA), that is, through customs, with the support of Infarmed and the Food and Economic Safety Authority (ASAE).
Regarding the drugs seized or whose importation was rejected, 31,742 individual doses were counted in the period in question.
According to the same document, among the drugs targeted for importation are anti-flu originating in China (“Lianhua Qinqwen Jiaonang”), supposedly used to combat the pandemic.
Only in the customs of the port of Leixões, district of Porto, 19,800 units of this medicine were counted, “hidden among other correctly declared goods.”
Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine phosphate (1,454 individual doses), azithromycin (373), and ivermectin (108) were other drugs identified.
In total, the 99 countries that participated in the operation recorded 1,683 interceptions, which included more than 300 million doses of drugs, 47 million units of medical devices (masks, gloves, screening tests, thermometers and gowns) and around 2 , 8 million liters of hand sanitizer gel.
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