(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Customs officials at O’Hare say they made an unusual seizure this week after a passenger landed: 9 pounds of Viagra tablets.
The 3,200 pills were in the baggage of a man who flew from India to O’Hare on Thursday. He was on his way to Savannah, Georgia, federal authorities say.
“He declared they were for his friends, and they’re considered over-the-counter medication in India,” said Steve Bansbach, spokesman for Customs and Border Protection in Chicago.
The pills containing sildenafil citrate — the active ingredient in name-brand Viagra — were seized because they were made by a company not regulated by the U.S. government.
Bansbach says customs agents make seizures of medication all the time, but usually not so much of it.
“Seeing it on a passenger? This amount? Bringing it through, into O’Hare? That’s a new one for me,” he said Friday.
Bansbach estimates the seized Viagra has a retail value of more than $96,000.
He says the drugs are being destroyed.
The passenger was allowed to proceed to Georgia.