Police and medicines watchdogs have joined forces to tackle the "acute" health risk of mass Scottish online purchases of Indian lifestyle drugs.

Law enforcement sources warn of growing internet demand for potentially dangerous unlicensed medications, especially erectile dysfunction and diet pills, from the subcontinent.

Police Scotland and Britain's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) for the first time will team up at the elite crime campus to tailor a specific Scottish response.

Detectives are already looking at plans to map demand for such products - which can be deadly - by developing algorithms to see which pharmaceuticals Scottish internet users are searching for.

READ MORE: How Britain became a world market place for Indian fake meds

They also aim to work with NHS to watch closely for any signs of falling prescriptions for certain medicines, a potential sign Scots are finding an alternative to going to their doctor for legal but embarrassing drugs.

Chief Inspector Mark Leonard of Police Scotland said: "The MHRA see online pharmacies selling lifestyle drugs as the next big wave of harm coming to Scotland. Most of these products are made in India or China and being sourced on the internet.

"They want to increase their footprint at the Scottish Crime Campus because of work they are going to do with Indian consular officials. "They believe online searches in Scotland are, in effect, people looking for medication you can get a prescription for."

MHRA took down 5000 online pharmacies last year and another 2000 in 2015 as it ramps up its battle against what it calls "fake meds".

The watchdog and medical experts have serious concerns about some of the drugs being pushed on grey-market online pharmacies.

READ MORE: How Britain became a world market place for Indian fake meds

Many of these products would be licensed in India - and meet Indian standards - but are not allowed to be marketed in the UK.

They include diet pills with an appetite suppressant linked to a high risk of strokes and heart disease and banned across most of the West in 2010.

An intelligence briefings from MHRA said: "Although medicines originating from India are mainly 'lifestyle', some may pose an acute risk to public health. The main risk is from unlicensed weight loss medicines known to contain sibutramine.

"These medicines are licensed in India. However, sibutramine's marketing authorisation has been withdrawn in the UK due to cardiovascular risks."

MHRA data shows that it has seized around 1 million slimming pills since 2013 with a value of nearly £3.5 million.

Health and law enforcement sources are also concerned about what they believe are frequent internet searches for "Viagra", the erectile dysfunction medicine.

Men - perhaps because they are too shy to go to their doctor - are buying the drug or generic equivalents without checking whether it is safe for them.

READ MORE: How Britain became a world market place for Indian fake meds

The Herald understands nearly 4 million doses of unlicensed erectile dysfunction products were seized at the UK border in 2016. MHRA said seizures of the such products, mostly Indian equivalents of Viagra, were worth £50m in the last five years.

Police and MHRA sources, however, stressed they are also worried about the online market what they call "new therapies", homeopathic or ayurvedic medicines, and acne treatments, especially steroid ones, which can have unregulated or dangerous ingredients.

Lifestyle pills made up 87 per cent of all seizures of Indian medicines, intelligence suggests. Only 5 per cent off seizures last year were "controlled" substances, drugs that would be illegal to possess without a prescription, such as the high-powered opiate pain-killer Tramadol.

Mr Leonard of Police Scotland stressed that internet market analysis was not an effort to track down individual drug buyers.

Police want to aid health officials know what warnings to issue to the public about black or grey market drugs trends.

He said: "We no longer measure our success in drugs seizures or arrests. For us success could be helping a partner agency identify prevention messages.

"The new drugs strategy is more towards harm reduction than enforcement. From our point of view drugs are just one commodity among illicit trade."

READ MORE: How Britain became a world market place for Indian fake meds

MHRA investigates those who trade in unlicensed medicines - not those who buy them. Instead it has a simple safety message for purchasers.

The watchdog's head of enforcement, Alastair Jeffrey, said: "We are working closely with Police Scotland to protect the Scottish public from potentially harmful unlicensed and illicit medical products.

"Purchasing medicines outside the regulated supply chain can be dangerous: the medicines could have the wrong active ingredient, no active ingredient or a harmful ingredient.

"Be careful buying medicines online – only buy from a site that is registered with MHRA and displays the distance selling logo.

"Criminals that supply medicines online illegally do not care about your health and are only interested in your money.

"If you have a concern about your health, visit your GP or other healthcare provider, get a correct diagnosis and if medicines are prescribed, obtain them from a legitimate source."