ILLEGAL sex drugs with a street value of about £25,000 have been seized in a house raid.

Police and officers from a Government drug agency raided the house and recovered 5,000 Kamagra tablets -a version of Viagra that is unlicensed in the UK.

Kamagra is a drug designed for men suffering from impotence.

Computer equipment was also seized in the raid on the house in Hartlepool, which follows an investigation by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). It said investigations are continuing with a view to bringing a prosecution.

MHRA officers believed medication was being sold over the Internet from the house after they traced the source of the drug from a website.

Danny Lee-Frost, head of medicines enforcement at the MHRA, said: "People should be vigilant when buying medicines over the Internet, as criminals are operating some websites or using them to sell unlicensed medicines.

"Medicines supplied by criminals clearly cannot be guaranteed to be safe.

"They could be counterfeit and, at worst, harm someone because of an adverse reaction to the medicine."

The MHRA was set up in 2003 by the Government, with the responsibility for ensuring medicines are safe.

MHRA officers said Kamagra could affect people with heart problems if taken without medical supervision.

They also said that suppliers regularly place other ingredients in the tablets.

Naeem Ahmed, head of medicines intelligence at the agency, said: "In the last five years or so, since these lifestyle products have been released, they have started to be sold in the developed world.

"Prior to that, in Asia and Africa, there have been problems with counterfeit drugs, but they did not attract much publicity.

"But since these drugs have become available, the counterfeiters and entrepreneurs have recognised that there is a market in developed countries - as well as the embarrassment factor, with people not wanting to go to their doctor."