Counterfeit medicines gang supplied millions of fake tablets on Dark Web

A Black Country based group has been convicted of running a multi-million-pound fake medicines business, including powerful anti-anxiety tablets such as Xanax.

Two people were convicted yesterday of their part in the operation to supply controlled drugs at Wolverhampton Crown Court. Eight others, including the man who controlled the business, Brian Pitts, pleaded guilty previously.

Brian Pitts – known online as Milkman - his partner Katie Harlow and father-in-law Lee Lloyd were the main players, co-ordinating the production and sales of counterfeit tablets online from their base in Thailand. All three were charged with money laundering offences. It is estimated that more than £4 million worth of drugs were sold by the gang and there was evidence that they intended to produce many times more.

The wider group, most of whom were from the same extended family, manufactured the tablets in make-shift pill production factories in garages and garden sheds in the UK, using industrial pill presses and active ingredients imported from China. They sold to customers on the Dark Web, primarily the market in the USA, using Bitcoin to receive payment.

The group also included Mark Bayley and Deborah Bellingham, whose addresses in Wolverhampton and Tipton were used as manufacturing sites; Anthony Pitts who fixed the presses; Bladen Roper who travelled to Oxfordshire to buy materials for manufacturing pills; and others who carried assisted in running the business - Jordan Pitts, Kyle Smith, and Scott Tonkinson.

Packages of tablets were intercepted both in the UK and US, which involved close working with US authorities. The packages were found to contain counterfeit Xanax and had return addresses related to the defendants - one intercepted parcel had Brian Pitt’s fingerprints on packaging on the inside.

Phone content showed accounts used by Brian Pitts, Harlow and Lloyd had control of the Dark Web marketplaces and were linked to Bitcoin and other crypto assets used to buy counterfeit Xanax.

Brian Pitts, Harlow and Lloyd were all arrested when they returned from Thailand in August 2019 with designer clothes and Rolex watches in their luggage.

Jonathan Kelleher from the Crown Prosecution Service said:  “This was a case of fake medicines being produced on an industrial scale, with significant potential harm to the public.

“These drugs should only be prescribed by a doctor and anyone buying them on the Dark Web, produced in a back-garden shed, has no clue what they are taking. Brian Pitts and his associates were not concerned with these dangers, and only saw a money-making opportunity.

“The CPS worked closely with the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit, including experts in cyber-crime given that much of this offending took place online, to prosecute these organised criminals and protect the public from this harmful trade.”

The CPS Proceeds of Crime Division are pursuing confiscation proceedings against the defendants to remove any available criminal benefit from this enterprise.

MHRA safety advice when buying medicines online:

Be careful when buying medicines online

Medicines and medical devices are not ordinary consumer goods and their sale and supply is tightly controlled. Websites operating outside the legal supply chain may seem tempting, for example, offering a prescription medicine without a prescription. Not only are these sites breaking the law, they are putting your health at risk.

Do not self-prescribe

Self-diagnosis and self-medication can be very dangerous. If you have a concern about your health, visit your GP, get a correct diagnosis and if medicines are prescribed, obtain them from a legitimate source. You can report any products you believe to be fake or unlicensed to the MHRA’s Yellow Card scheme.