Drugs and money laundering case in West Midlands concludes

The case goes back to January 2018 when pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Ltd initiated an investigation into darknet market sellers operating as ‘Milkman11new’ and ‘UKBK’ who were selling bulk quantities of tablets advertised as ‘Xanax’ – a medicine previously manufactured by Pfizer.

As part of its work to protect public health from the threat of counterfeit medicines, Pfizer made multiple test purchases of the product from the sellers and ran tests on the tablets in its counterfeit laboratories, which confirmed the tablets were fake and dangerously dosed.

Pfizer identified individuals responsible for shipping the fake tablets and passed information to West Midlands Police while continuing to investigate the group.

At the start of 2019 dark web investigation units were set up in regional organised crime units across the UK, and West Midlands Police took on the investigation to trace others involved in the manufacture and sale of counterfeit Xanax, the active ingredient of which is Alprazolam.

Police investigators explored the dark web to track sales and deliveries to and from addresses in the Black Country. They also traced the proceeds of the sales through the transfer and conversion of crypto currency, namely Bitcoin.

Investigators found four pill press machines costing around £7,500 each and capable of producing around 10,000 tablets per hour had been bought from a UK company.

Large quantities of Alprazolam and an analogue, Adinazolam, powder was shipped from China, along with bulking agents and other ingredients to make the tablets in the presses, bought in the UK.

Then in Wednesbury in August 2019 officers executing a warrant found thousands of counterfeit tablets were in the process of being heat sealed in foil bags.

Another warrant was executed in Tipton where officers found an industrial powder mixer and an industrial style drying unit in a garden shed and all surfaces covered with a white and pink powder - the signs of production of red street variant counterfeit Xanax style pills.

The following month a warrant was executed in Wolverhampton where a tablet press machine, metal pill casts and stamps were found with powder and a handwritten recipe list.

Items found when warrants were executed by police (Image: West Midlands Police)

Detective Inspector Dave Hollies, investigating officer, said: “The scale of production of these counterfeit tablets ran in the millions. We found evidence the group had purchased over two tonnes of bulking agent which made up over 90 per cent of the tablets.

“The weight of active ingredients purchased was up 220kg. And the profit in Bitcoin also ran into millions.”

Records showed shipments of the fake tablets were made across the globe.

Patrick Holt, director for global security at Pfizer, said: “We are proud of the role we played alongside the authorities to ensure these serious criminals were brought to justice. We dedicated time, resource and expertise to ensure these illicit counterfeit activities were prevented in order to protect public health.”

Eight defendants pleaded guilty at earlier hearings and the trial for two defendants has now concluded at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

• Lee Lloyd, aged 47, of Gayfield Avenue, Brierley Hill, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to money launder, conspiracy to supply class C drugs, conspiracy to commit a trademark offence and conspiracy to avoid a prohibition on exporting class C drugs.

Lee Lloyd (Image: West Midlands Police)

• Brian Pitts, aged 29, of Beebee Road, Wednesbury, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to money launder, conspiracy to commit a trademark offence, conspiracy to supply class C drugs and evade prohibition / restriction on exporting class C drugs.

• Kyle Smith, aged 25, of Beech Road, Wednesbury, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class C drugs, conspiracy to commit a trademark offence, conspiracy to avoid a prohibition on exporting class C drugs.

• Scott Tonkinson, aged 35, of Arundel Road, Willenhall, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit a trademark offence, conspiracy to supply class C drugs and evade prohibition/restriction on exporting class C drugs.

• Anthony Pitts, aged 40, of Belmont Close, Tipton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class C drugs, conspiracy to commit a trademark offence, conspiracy to avoid a prohibition on exporting class C drugs.

• Mark Bayley, aged 62, of Jeremy Road, Wolverhampton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class C drugs and conspiracy to commit a trademark offence.

• Deborah Bellingham, aged 57, of Windsor Road, Tipton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class C drugs and conspiracy to commit a trademark offence.

• Katie Harlow, aged 26, of Beebee Road, Wednesbury, pleaded guilty to money laundering.

Jordan Pitts, aged 25 of Hickman Road, Tipton and Bladon Roper, aged 24, of Stourbridge Road, Brierley Hill, have stood trial and were found guilty yesterday of assisting in the commission of an offence.

All 10 will be sentenced at a later date.

Jonathan Kelleher from the Crown Prosecution Service said of the case: “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.