DRUG-peddling brothers, part of an international scam, have avoided jail after being caught with a million pound stash of ‘potentially dangerous’ counterfeit medicines.

Gediminas and Vytautas Staskevicius admitted having a haul of more than 400,000 unlicensed and prescription-only medicines used to treat erectile dysfunction and weight loss.

The ‘delivery men’ invented a postal system hidden within a unit at Cowley’s Storage King to package and distribute the drugs including fake Viagra, worth about £1.4m.

Handing the pair suspended sentences, Judge Ian Pringle QC told the defendants he believed they did not travel from native Lithuania to carry out their scam in the city, adding: “These medicines needed to be prescribed or certainly approved before being distributed by people who were unqualified. This country takes the distribution of such items very seriously.”

Officers at the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) received a tip-off that suspected illegal medicines were being delivered to Gediminas Staskevicius’ home in Moorbank, Blackbird Leys, Oxford, in May 2015.

Enforcement officers raided the house and storage unit in July 2015, discovering tablets of unlicensed erectile dysfunction medication, counterfeit medicines and drug Tramadol.

More than £6,000, as well as electronic records of the medicines and customer details were uncovered, the agency confirmed.

The brothers received online orders from an unknown person before dispatching them from the storage unit, which was ‘like a dispensing chemist’, Oxford Crown Court heard on Monday.

They visited post offices ‘hundreds of times’ in Balfour Road, Oxford, and at Templars Square Shopping Centre, using drop and go services to deliver the medicines, prosecutor Anthony Hucklesbury said.

Rashvinderjeet Panesar, defending Gediminas Staskevicius, said his client did not know he was acting illegally as he had spotted the medicines advertised online.

The line engineer at Cowley’s BMW Mini plant came to the country after struggling to find work in his native home with his sociology degree, he added.

Christian Wasunna, defending Vytautas Staskevicius, said his client, now of Tyndall House, Great Ann Street Bristol,  was doing a favour for his older brother, who was letting him stay at his home and helping him to find work.

Gediminas Staskevicius, 31, was handed a 16-month sentence, suspended for two years, with a 120-hour unpaid work requirement and must pay £1,500 costs.

Vytautas Staskevicius, 30, was given an eight-month sentence, suspended for two years, with a two-month electronic curfew requirement.

Both pleaded guilty on the first day of their trial, admitting possessing seven unauthorised medicinal products, possessing two prescription-only medicines with intent to supply, and three counts of unauthorised use of a trademark between June 30, 2015, and July 29, 2015. Gediminas Staskevicius also admitted possessing Tramadol, a class C drug, with intent to supply.

Head of enforcement at MHRA Alastair Jeffery said: “Fake and unlicensed medicines pose a serious health threat. There is no way of knowing whether they are acceptably safe. There are also no guarantees as to what unlicensed medicines contain - there may be impurities or incorrect ingredients which affect their safety and performance.”