A joint operation by the Tax Agency and the Guardia Civil

• They used botulinum toxin and other substances imported from Korea without passing the proper health and safety controls in Europe and Spain

• Four people have been arrested and another 41 investigated for crimes against public health, fraud, professional intrusion and criminal organization, in different actions carried out in the provinces of Alicante, Malaga, Madrid, Cadiz, Murcia, Cordoba and Seville.

February 3, 2025.- The Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, in a joint operation with the Civil Guard, has dismantled a criminal organization dedicated to the import, storage and distribution of illegal medicines and health products specifically related to aesthetic medicine.

Among the buyers of these substances were various legally established and other clandestine beauty clinics, as well as people who practiced this type of medical work without official qualifications.

In total, four people have been arrested and 41 investigated for 53 crimes against public health, fraud, professional intrusion and membership in a criminal organization.

Within the framework of the 'Botul/Kalopsia' operation, operations have been carried out in the provinces of Alicante, Malaga, Madrid, Cadiz, Murcia, Cordoba and Seville, with large quantities of illegal medicines and medical products originating mainly from Korea having been seized, as well as material for their packaging, storage and distribution.

The investigation began in 2023, following a series of reports collected by the Central Operative Unit of the Civil Guard regarding the existence of various clandestine clinics dedicated to carrying out treatments and interventions specific to aesthetic medicine, observing that these types of medical treatments were even offered through social networks by people without the proper qualifications.

Illegal drugs from the Republic of Korea

In parallel, the Risk Analysis Unit of the Seville Customs, made up of officials from the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency and agents from the Civil Guard, had been carrying out a significant number of seizures of illegal medicines and medical products at the Seville airport, mainly from the Republic of Korea, whose final recipients were directly or indirectly related to aesthetic medicine.

These medicines and medical devices, which were not authorised in Spain and were usually offered through the websites of various Korean pharmaceutical companies, were introduced into the country in a hidden manner, normally covered by false declarations of content, to make their detection difficult.

They were then stored by members of the criminal organization, who, after making the appropriate publicity for them, directly or through social media profiles, distributed them to clandestine clinics and personnel not qualified to perform these interventions, which are typical of doctors specialized in aesthetic medicine.

The activity of the suppliers was not limited to the national territory, as shipments of the aforementioned products were also detected in Portugal, in addition to having a network of people and bank accounts located in different countries to conceal the benefits that the criminal organization obtained from its illegal activity.

During the exploitation phase of the investigation, four house searches were carried out, specifically in San Pedro de Alcántara (Málaga), Torrevieja (Alicante) and Cartagena (Murcia), as well as 24 inspections in clandestine clinics and establishments in the provinces of Cádiz, Madrid, Málaga, Córdoba, Seville and Alicante, in which 40 seizures of illegal medicines and medical products were carried out.

In these proceedings, four people have been arrested and 41 investigated, who are charged with a total of 53 crimes against public health, fraud, professional intrusion and membership of a criminal organization.

Botulinum toxin, hyaluronidase, hyaluronic acid, lidocaine, and plasma centrifuges

Among the illegal medicines seized in these operations, it is worth highlighting 700 vials of botulinum toxin, 275 vials of hyaluronidase, more than 200 containers of lidocaine, as well as more than a thousand pre-filled syringes of hyaluronic acid, tension threads and specific machinery such as centrifuges for carrying out platelet-rich plasma treatments, all of them without the traceability, quality and conservation required for official products and therefore without the assurance that the content is what appears on the labels.

Although this criminal organisation has been dismantled, complaints are currently being collected from potential victims of the application of these treatments, and there are some very serious cases of the consequences suffered after the application of these illegal substances by unqualified personnel.

The investigation was carried out by the Customs Surveillance Operational Unit of the Tax Agency in Seville, together with the Health and Doping Section of the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard and the Fiscal and Border Analysis and Investigation Unit of the Civil Guard of the Port of Seville, also with the important collaboration of the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products, the Pharmacy Inspection of the Regional Government of Andalusia, the Pharmacy Inspection of Madrid and the Spanish Society of Aesthetic Medicine (SEME).

The project also involved the collaboration of other public and private entities, in terms of technical advice and analysis, such as the Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM), the San Pablo CEU University of Madrid and the Faculty of Pharmacy of Granada.