The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has announced the shut down of over 200 website domains tied to an India-based transnational criminal organisation (TCO) allegedly responsible for at least six fatal and four non-fatal overdoses. Four persons have been arrested so far.
The DEA executed the operation in cooperation of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. “The TCO tied to these illegal online pharmacies has been under investigation by DEA’s Rocky Mountain Field Division since 2022,” read its statement.
“Leveraging its global reach, DEA actively collaborates with our Government of India law enforcement partners to identify, investigate, and dismantle dangerous criminal organisations that engage in these types of illegal drug trafficking operations,” said the DEA, adding that it would continue its crackdown on illicit pharmaceutical distributors at the source through joint operations.
The agency’s field offices launched the searches on January 27 across the U.S., leading to the arrest of four individuals along with the issuance of five Immediate Suspension Orders (ISO) and one Order to Show Cause (OTSC) against DEA-registered pharmacies.
“These actions were in addition to the U.S. government shutting down more than 200 online pharmacies accused of filling hundreds of thousands of orders of diverted pharmaceuticals and counterfeit pills without valid prescriptions,” said the DEA.
