| NEWS FROM THE DEA REGARDING ONLINE PHARMACY
PROSECUTIONS:
Internet Drug Trafficking: In FY 2005, DEA initiated
100 new internet investigations involving the online sales of pharmaceutical
controlled substances. Over the course of FY 2005, DEA arrested
62 individuals and seized $44 million in cash, property, computers,
and bank accounts from individuals who had been selling prescription
drugs via the Internet. As a result of one internet drug trafficking
investigation, Operation Cyberchase, DEA identified approximately
200 web sites that illegally sold prescription drugs and arrested
25 individuals who had been operating in the United States, India,
Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean. DEA also led a 21-month OCDETF
investigation that concluded with criminal charges against the principal
Mexican steroid manufacturers, whose U.S. sales totaled an estimated
$56 million annually. DEA has arrested nine individuals, one of
whom was the owner of three of the world’s largest anabolic
steroid manufacturing operations. Eighty percent of the steroids
seized in the United States last year originated from Mexican manufacturers.
Source: http://www.dea.gov/pubs/cngrtest/ct040506.html
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