Europol Breaks Up Counterfeit Drug Ring, Seizes Millions of Fake Pills in Cross-Europe Operation
Sample of drugs confiscated in EU raid.
Photo Credit: Europol.
Law enforcement across Europe dismantled a vast counterfeit medication ring. Two men in United Kingdom among several arrested for selling counterfeit medication online.
Europol has posted a press release concerning a counterfeit drug investigation conducted in cooperation with investigators in Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Hungary, Slovakia, Spain and the United Kingdom. The EU authorities have broken up a massive counterfeit drug selling operation in Europe. Authorities seized several million fake pills valued at EUR 10 million ($14 million US). Another EUR 7.5 million was seized from various bank accounts, and 12 people were arrested, reports Europol.
According to Europol, “The counterfeit medicines targeted by this operation are imported into the European Union from Asia and contain incorrect dosages and ingredients which pose a serious health hazard.”
The International Business Times (IBT) reports that the fake drug ring primarily sold medications for weight-loss, smoking cessation treatments, and ED medications.
According to This is Local London, two men from Barnet were arrested on money laundering and counterfeit drug charges as part of the larger Europol investigation. The two men are believed to be part of a pan-European counterfeit drug sales organization that used as many as 400 different websites to sell fake pills manufactured in Asia.
IBT also reports that the 2 London residents acted to launder the proceeds of the counterfeit drug ring through a London charity. According to the East London Times, the two men were arrested by the London Regional Asset Recovery Team (LRART).
Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Manson, of the MPS Specialist, Organized and Economic Crime Command, (part of LRART) told the East London Times that “Today’s operation with our counterparts in Austria and Europol has been about taking down a highly organized crime group who make an incredible amount of money by selling potentially harmful drugs to unsuspecting members of the public, some of whom are in the UK. These so-called medicines are peddled on very professional looking websites which feature convincing medical advice, but the people behind them have no medical training. When you buy a product from these websites, you have no idea what concoctions you are actually getting or the conditions in which they have been made. Drugs sold on such websites frequently contain harmful ingredients and have been made in unhygienic conditions.”
IBT also reports that three more people were arrested in Spain as part of the same conspiracy. Austria was the center of the crime ring, according to The Daily Mail, where the leader of the fake drug scam was arrested. The Daily Mail also reports that Austrian police informed them that the original investigation of the fake drug scam started in 2012, when a package of medication that was sent to Spain was returned for not having enough postage. The sender used the mailing address of a genuine Austrian pharmacy in lieu of his actual address, and when the pharmacy got the returned package, they turned it in to authorities.
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