The BBC reported last week that an investigation into the UK-based Web site Pharma2u.com by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) resulted in an elderly couple being arrested and over $350,000 in counterfeit, unlicensed and withdrawn prescription drugs being seized.

The haul, MHRA Head of Operations Danny Lee-Frost told the BBC, was only the "tip of the iceberg" of an expected multi-million-pound illegal online pharmaceutical business.

"The dangers of purchasing medicines online are that you just don't know what you are taking," he said.

The Mirror.co.uk also reported that the series of pre-dawn raids netted "a 'significant haul' of illicit drugs, including bogus Viagra and Prozac."

Currently, the watchdog group LegitScript has more than 34,000 “rogue” pharmacies in its database. These are online pharmacies from all over the world that LegitScript does not consider to be legitimate.

According to its blog, LegitScript had designated Pharma2u.com as “as a rogue several months ago, based on that fact that it did not require a valid prescription, and offered to import prescription-only drugs into the United States in violation of federal law.”

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