Internet Drug Ring Tricked Buyers With Fake and Deadly Pills, U.S. Says
The New York Times
The drugs, which resembled real pharmaceuticals, killed nine people, prosecutors said. They were laced with fentanyl and methamphetamine.
The online pharmacies were cheery, helpful-looking spots on the internet, promising the convenience of prescriptions by mail.
But, federal prosecutors say, a network of people in the United States, India and the Dominican Republic used the seemingly innocuous sites to distribute deadly narcotics manufactured by secret pill mills in New York City to tens of thousands of customers.
At least nine died, said Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan.
“The pills were filled with poison,” Mr. Williams said during a news briefing on Monday. “They injured and killed unwitting victims across the country over and over again.”
An indictment that was unsealed Monday charged 18 people with conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death; Thirteen people, including the group’s accused leader, Francisco Alberto Lopez Reyes, were in custody, prosecutors said. None had entered pleas, prosecutors said.
Some of the defendants were also charged with conspiring to launder money, taking part in a criminal enterprise and distributing narcotics that resulted in death.
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