HELSINKI - Finnish customs investigators said Tuesday that international organised crime is behind a vast traffic in fake medicines which dozens of Finns are illegally buying each day.

Most of the fake drugs are made in Asia and reach Finland through gangs in Russia and the Baltic states, Hannu Sinkkonen, head of the investigation and intelligence unit at the Western District Office of Finnish Customs told AFP.

He said several hundred people had already been caught as part of an inquiry into the internet purchases though it was impossible to give specific figures as dozens of new cases were emerging every day.

"When you order medicines over the Internet you may be committing a crime and what you order may not be what you get," he said.

"Thousands of orders" and "hundreds or thousands of people" are involved each year in the import of fake medicines worth millions of euros, he said.

The drugs ordered on legitimate-looking websites included heart and cancer medicines, Sinkkonen said, but the pills sent to buyers may have been anything from expired or left over malaria medicines to illegal drugs to painted pills covered with floor wax.

"The websites are managed by and the money goes to criminal organisations, for example from Russia and the Baltics," Sinkkonen said, adding that the criminals bought big batches of pills in blank containers and sold them on labelled as whatever clients ordered.

Most of the fake pills were manufactured in Asia and came to Finland directly from Asian countries or through neighbouring Sweden, Sinkkonen said, adding that Finland was cooperating with other nations in the investigation, which has lasted a few months.

In addition to risking their health, Finns who have ordered medicines over the Internet may have broken Finnish drug or doping laws.

"Importing medicines over the Internet is prohibited because of the risks involved," Sinkkonen said.