by Andrew Smyth
‘What makes it even more difficult is parallel trading. Do you know about that?’ he asked and I told him that I’d seen the repackaging at Holden. ‘Wholesalers buy them where they’re cheap – Greece, for example, and then sell them in Germany or the UK where they’re the most expensive. Parallel trading means that the medicines you pick up at your local pharmacy can have gone through over half a dozen different distributors.’
‘How much of a problem is caused by counterfeits?’ I asked.
‘No one really knows, but ten years ago the World Health Organisation reckoned it was $32 billion so it must be bigger than that now. The market for pharmaceuticals is over a trillion dollars so a counterfeit rate of five percent is still a huge figure and research shows that many markets have failure rates much higher than this. It’s also a trade that attracts almost no publicity. Obviously the drug companies themselves do what they can to prevent it, but it’s not in their interests to give it much publicity since it only creates uncertainty and doubt. The fact is that many hundreds of people in the west die from fake or adulterated drugs but it’s very difficult to prove. That’s why we decided that we couldn’t afford to miss this inspection. Usually all we have is the fake drug which doesn’t get us far and it’s not often that we can question the supplier and trace the product back to its manufacturer.’ He paused and looked in his rear-view mirror. ‘Shit! Look at that! Does he think he can just push me out of the way?’
I turned and looked backwards at a souped-up Ford that was tailgating us, flashing his headlights. I turned back and checked the speedometer. ‘You’re already doing eighty. He’ll probably be picked up by the speed cameras up ahead.’
A gap opened up in the middle lane and we pulled over to allow the Ford to pass, which he did with a blaring of horns.
‘Stupid idiot,’ Ed said. ‘I was telling you about counterfeiting, but the problem doesn’t stop there. Some drugs have been stolen from warehouses and relabelled, others are past their active life and have been re-dated – like yours. But by far the main problems are in the developing countries such as Africa where large-scale immunisation programmes can be undermined by counterfeits. Take malaria for example: if a counterfeit has less than the right amount of active ingredients then far from helping it can actually cause harm because the low dose only serves to build up resistance, which is counterproductive.’ He paused again, before adding: ‘People always talk about the problem with narcotics – you say the word “drugs” and that’s what they think of, but counterfeit, mislabelled or out-of-date drugs are actually far more of a problem but we don’t hear much about them. They certainly kill more people. The public don’t know anything about fake drugs, but they’re killers and on a massive scale – few people understand how big the problem really is.’
‘So what do you think about this manufacturer in Kenya, Tau Pharmaceuticals? Did you find out anything about them?’
‘They’re quite a big player – “Tau” is Tswana for “lion” and I think that’s how they like to be seen. East Africa is a base for quite a few pharmaceutical companies, often with Indian connections. It’s one of the routes used for smuggling. Across the Indian Ocean to places like Zanzibar, which is a free port and a pretty lawless sort of place at the best of times. From there, shipments are broken up into smaller consignments which are easier to handle and which are moved up and down the coast by small sailing ships. I think the Mombasa address is simply a warehouse, not a manufacturer which is probably back in India.’
‘So this Ken Maxwell, why is SIS interested?’
‘Until recently the main source of counterfeits was from India or China and it’s ironic because that’s the main source of the genuine drugs as well. But now some terrorist groups have discovered that faking drugs is an easy way of making money. SIS thinks that ISIS might have set up small-scale manufacturing plants in the parts of the Middle East under their control and is sending them south to Africa, although they could just as easily set up a wholesaling organisation there or bring them in from India or China.’
By this time we’d reached the motorway turn-off and Ed pulled over into the slip road.
‘How are we going to handle this?’ I asked.
‘We have the authority to make unannounced inspections, so I’ll say I wanted to see their cold-storage facility.’
‘What about me?’
‘They’ve seen you before with the IHG guy, so perhaps they’ll think you’re a whistle-blower. Whatever they think probably isn’t going to be complimentary if you turn up with me.’
Only the security staff were on duty when we arrived as it was too early for the office workers. The night-time guards opened up and allowed us to wait in the reception area. At just before eight o’clock, Colin Farrow walked in and did a perfect double-take as he saw me. ‘You…’ he started, and his face flushed. He was obviously about to say something when he saw Ed and immediately recognised that he was looking at trouble.
Ed stood up and held out his identification. ‘MHRA. We want to check some of your stock.’
Farrow inspected the identification and then looked at his watch. ‘A bit early, isn’t it?’ he asked, as though we were offering him a double whisky for breakfast.
‘You know what they say,’ was Ed’s response. ‘Can we go straight through?’
‘Can I get you a coffee or something, so you can tell me what this is all about? I can’t start the day without a coffee. I’ve got to go to my office to drop off my case.’
‘Later perhaps, when we’ve looked around. We’ll wait for you down here,’ Ed said.
After Farrow had gone upstairs, he turned to me. ‘You can see why we don’t announce our visits. Just think what they might get up to with a little notice.’
‘Did you bring coats with you?’ Farrow asked as he returned. ‘We keep parkas for visitors – it’s through here.’ He opened the door of a changing room where there was a rack of quilts in different sizes. ‘Help yourself,’ he said opening a locker and pulling out a coat.
Ed and I chose from the rack and put on the jackets as we followed Farrow out and into the warehouse. ‘Is it just the refrigerated area you want to see?’ Farrow asked.
‘For the moment. We might have a more general look around later.’
We followed him across the warehouse to the cold area, where Farrow opened the door and led us through. Immediately our breath condensed in clouds. ‘Is there anything in particular you’re looking for?’ he asked, shivering slightly.
I’d told Ed to look at rows “K” and “Q” but he didn’t make it that obvious. ‘We want to check the temperatures and the use-by dates to make sure that the storage conditions are right,’ he said and wandered on ahead apparently randomly. I followed, checking the aisle numbers and when we reached “K” we turned into it, with Colin Farrow following. Ed was looking to his right and left until he stopped suddenly. Ahead of us were rows of empty shelves. ‘What’s happening here?’
Was it my imagination, or was there a ghost of a smile hovering around Farrow’s lips? ‘We’ve been clearing out-of-date stock.’
‘Where’s it gone?’ asked Ed.
‘I’ll have to check the records but we’re getting it incinerated in accordance with our licence.’
Ed nodded and headed off again, and I could tell he was now aiming for the second aisle. I followed him but couldn’t recognise the bays from my earlier visit when I could barely keep my hands still from shivering. He turned in at “Q” and made his way down to Bay 40, adjacent to the place they had stored the Oxaban. This time, he looked across to me. It was empty.
I was feeling a bit subdued the next morning as I went out to get something for lunch. Ed Carpenter had taken the fiasco at Holden Healthcare philosophically, but said that without any direct evidence there wasn’t much else he or the MHRA could do. Every time I thought I was making some progress it seemed I was knocked back to first base. It was time I started thinking about my own future and give up any further investigations.
I was obviously absorbed in my own thoughts when I suddenly became aware of a car stopped ahead. The driver leant over and opened the passenger door, blocking my path. I looked in and saw that it was the spook from MI6. I got in without waiting to be told. It was clear he wanted to take me for a ride and whatever he had to say was preferable to milk and eggs.
‘Ken Maxwell, isn’t it?’ I asked in a friendly sort of way. ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you again.’ He didn’t say anything but put the car in gear and drove off engaging the clutch with a jerk. I didn’t speak for a while either. He’d come to the point eventually. I turned and saw him looking closely into the rear-view mirror. ‘Expecting company?’ I asked and started to turn around.
‘Don’t look back,’ he said tersely and made a sudden left turn into a narrow street leading away from the river. On the A13, he headed east before turning off at Silvertown, heading for Victoria Dock.
He parked on double yellow lines in front of the Excel exhibition centre. He got out and walked across to the dockside opposite the old Spillers flour depository and I followed him and we sat down on a bench overlooking the water. There was no show at the exhibition hall and the wide, open concourse in front was almost deserted. Anyone following us had nowhere to hide.
Nonetheless, I looked around to make sure and then sat down next to him. ‘That was melodramatic. Was it really necessary?’
‘We’re not taking any chances. That boat of yours is pretty conspicuous and easy to stake out.’
‘I suppose it’s not as though there’s a basement exit for me to slip out through, but why should you think anyone’s watching me?’
‘We heard what happened yesterday at Holden Healthcare. It seems they were forewarned about the visit.’
‘Possibly. But they knew what we were looking for, because we raised the second order deliberately, so they could have checked it and found the problem themselves. I’ve been thinking about it, and it could have been an accident, a duff load of medicines somehow contaminating the rest. I would have thought the controls here are too tight for them to risk passing off counterfeits on a regular basis so that seems the most likely explanation. What bothers me is Colin Farrow. He seemed to be too suspicious for someone who didn’t have something to hide.’
‘Perhaps he’s the suspicious type?’ Maxwell looked around again to make sure we were alone. ‘I’ve found that most of the drug companies are pretty paranoid.’
‘Perhaps, but even on our first visit his whole manner suggested that he was waiting for us to find something. It’s as though he knew there was something to be found. Still, I suppose you can’t condemn someone for being suspicious. Anyway, why all this drama?’
‘Ed told me that without any evidence the MHRA can’t take it any further. They don’t have the resources and there’s so little to go on.’
‘There’s Tau Pharmaceuticals – that’s a lead.’
‘Yes, but it’s in Africa. They’re not going to send someone there. They say that if Holden knew about the faulty drugs, then after their inspection found nothing they’re not likely to do it again if they think there could be another inspection.’
‘So what brings you out here to kidnap me?’
‘It’s not a kidnap, just a friendly meeting. I’ve made some enquiries about Tau. It’s part of the Bakaar family holdings. The son, Jamaal Bakaar is based in Mombasa and has fingers in a host of pies, not all of them halal. He holds himself out as a devout Muslim, but his values seem to be rather flexible.’
‘And what about his pharmaceutical business? Is it big?’
‘It is by Kenyan standards, but Tau is mainly a wholesaler. As far as we can tell, they do some small scale manufacturing, but our information is a bit out of date so we need to get confirmation of that. He has distribution agreements with some of the major companies, so they must think he’s on the level.’
‘Unless it’s because they haven’t caught him out yet. But I suppose they don’t have much choice about who they do business with. They probably have to deal with things as they find them – they must have a canteen of long spoons.’
‘It isn’t easy in East Africa. Business relies on contacts and family connections. Many people have burnt their fingers trying to bypass the established companies. But they’re established for a reason.’
‘So who are his major suppliers – pharmaceutical suppliers, that is?’
‘Tau is the East African subsidiary of the Bakaar group who have a manufacturing facility outside Mumbai in India.’
‘And you think they might be the source of the fakes?’
‘That’s what we’re hoping you’ll find out for us.’
‘What? How can I find out about them?’ I couldn’t see where this was leading.
‘You’ve got the perfect cover to follow this up. There’s no connection with MI6. You’ve been dismissed from the service and are clearly on your own.’
‘Resigned, not dismissed,’ I said almost automatically, my mind following the consequences of what Ken Maxwell was saying.
‘Dismissed, resigned, it makes no difference. It’s all the same to people on the outside. If they looked into it they’d see someone who was on a fast track for promotion suddenly leaving after a disciplinary hearing. If we’d wanted your help on this we could have asked for a transfer, or a secondment. Whatever the real situation might be, to anyone making enquiries, you’ve left the army under a bit of a cloud so no one would make any connection with us.’
‘Unless, of course, you engineered the whole thing, which you couldn’t have because you didn’t know anything about this until I found out about Tau Pharmaceuticals.’
‘Yes, well, we have a lead and we need to follow it up.’
‘We’ve got the lead?’ I repeated.
‘Okay, okay, you’ve got the lead, which makes your position even better. You did it without us and now we want you to help us follow it up. It isn’t as if you’ve got a lot else on.’
‘Everyone goes around thinking I don’t have anything better to do except to be available for them. I do have my own life to lead.’
‘I’m sure you’ve got a hundred pressing matters jostling for your time, but we think there might be a connection between Jamaal Bakaar and Al-Shabaab and if we have a lead into them, then it’s a matter of national security. Something you were working on yourself until a short while ago. We think this is a situation we can take advantage of.’
‘Take advantage of the situation, or of me?’
Maxwell said nothing for a while. ‘Extraordinary place this,’ he said, looking around. ‘It’s difficult to imagine that these were once working docks. Even more difficult to realise that this was once the centre of an empire.’
‘You didn’t bring me here to give me a history lesson. I don’t understand this… this situation. How can you take advantage of it? What is this “situation” anyway?’
‘I’ve discussed it with my colleagues, and we think that if you’re prepared to follow it up, we could give you covert support. We can have people on the ground who can advise and help.’
‘When you say “follow it up” what exactly do you mean?’ I didn’t see why I should make this easy for him. If he wanted my help then he could spell it out.
‘You could go and call on Bakaar Pharmaceuticals for us.’
‘What? In Mumbai? You want me to go to India?’
‘To start with.’
‘To start with! What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘The MHRA think it’s quite likely that the counterfeits might be manufactured elsewhere.’
‘If they are counterfeits.’
‘That’s what we hope you can find out. But the trail starts with Tau and Jamaal Bakaar in Mombasa and leads directly across the Indian Ocean to Bakaar in Mumbai.’
‘So you don’t want me to go to Mombasa?’
Ken nodded. ‘As I say, there’s little actual manufacturing in Kenya. It’s Mumbai where virtually all the drugs come from. So, what do you think?’
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‘I think it’s crazy. I don’t know anything about pharmaceuticals. I don’t know anything about East Africa, or India and my knowledge of Al-Shabaab is probably out of date.’
‘You don’t have to worry about Al-Shabaab. If you can demonstrate their involvement then we can take over. It would be too dangerous for you on your own. But you could do the initial spadework – find out where these drugs come from. The MHRA will give you a basic course in counterfeit detection. There’s a lab they use that you can visit and they can show you how to use some portable equipment.’
‘So I pitch up in Mumbai one day and start making enquiries? Just like that?’
‘We thought you could say you were representing a pharmaceutical wholesaler. That would give you a cover story which would get you into these companies so you could sniff around.’
‘Sniff around? Is that what you call it?’
‘If Bakaar’s subsidiary, Tau, is working with terrorists knowingly or not knowingly, then we need to investigate. You’ve heard what Ed Carpenter told you about the counterfeit market. If they’re involved in any scale, the money to be made could be huge. And that goes into their coffers to allow them to buy bigger and better arms – even missiles.’
‘If that’s an appeal to my patriotism, you can forget it. I’ve already done my bit for Queen and country in Afghanistan. Can you drive me back now? I still need to buy my milk and eggs.’
‘Think about it,’ Ken Maxwell said. ‘We want you to go and make out that you’re a potential customer who’s asking about their pharmaceuticals. You’ll have no link with us and nothing can be traced back to us. We’ll even pay your expenses.’ He stood up and I followed him back to the car, which, miraculously, hadn’t been ticketed. ‘Let us know,’ he said and got in the car and drove off.