US busts Indian internet pill store

PHILADELPHIA - An internet pharmacy based in India that sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of drugs without prescriptions has been indicted by United States authorities.

The ring is alleged to have sold drugs such as codeine and a generic version of Viagra to website operators who then sold them to consumers.Investigators have made more than a dozen arrests.

The organisation was based in Agra, India, where defendant Brij Bhushan Bansal, a doctor, headed a family business that sent the drugs to the United States, the indictment charged. Authorities did not specify if he had been arrested. Other defendants include Bansal's son, his daughter and his son-in-law.

"There was no physician, no pharmacist and no quality control of these drugs that were sold at above-market rates," Patrick Meehan, US attorney for Eastern Pennsylvania, said.

Meehan said the operation endangered the health of consumers by offering drugs without prescription. He added some people got sick from drugs bought online but he declined to offer specifics.

He said about 200 websites involved in the operation had been deprived of the drugs shipped through the scheme.

Law enforcement officers have seized about US$7.1 million $9.8 million) in proceeds from the operation. In all, the business generated hundreds of millions of dollars between July 2003 and April 2005, according to the indictment.

Law enforcement agencies from the US and 14 other countries co-operated in the probe.

Defendants are charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, money laundering and misbranding drugs.

The trade sold drugs at well above market prices, the indictment said. Codeine was sold at US$264 per 100 tablets, compared with a typical market price of US$64. Valium was sold at US$198 against a US$27 market rate, officials said.

The operation was uncovered in February 2004 when a supervisor at Airborne Express at Philadelphia International Airport reported suspicious packages.

- REUTERS