A 22 year old man from Tarxien has been charged with illegally selling the drug Viagra which was found to be fake.

The drug is commonly used to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) but was said to be sold at a cheaper price than the real Viagra tablets as it had a minor defect.

In addition to selling the product without authorisation, the accused, Brady Abela, was also charged with gaining from damaging the producers of the product, using illegal items in his possession to commit a crime, wilfully selling merchandise that carried misleading information in order to make a profit and operating a wholesale business without a licence and against the medicine’s ordinance.

Police Inspector Yvonne Farrugia for the prosecution, declared evidence that the accused had sold a large amount of the medicine to people in foreign countries including the UK.

The case was preside over by Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani with Dr Toni Abela standing for the accused.