Wolverhampton couple jailed for running £4m crime gang selling fake Xanax pills

A Wolverhampton couple who were ringleaders of a drugs gang selling millions of fake Xanax pills around the world have been jailed for a total of ten years.

Brian Pitts, 30, and Katie Harlow, 27, ran an international criminal empire from a luxury villa in Thailand between 2018 and 2019.

Up to 11 million counterfeit pills were produced in sheds and garages across the West Midlands before being sold on the dark web via cryptocurrency payments.

The gang included family members and friends who sold more £4 million worth of fake pills across the UK and USA and laundered the profits through bitcoin.

The pair were finally caught after a five-year international investigation led by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Ltd.

They were arrested when they returned from Thailand with designer clothes and Rolex watches in their luggage in August 2019.

A court heard while the gang made at least £4 million they could have made more than £11 million from their illegal operation.

Pitts, of Bilston, previously admitted conspiracy to supply class C drugs and conspiracy to commit a trademark offence.

He was jailed for eight years at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday (Thursday, March 27).

Barlow, who lived with Pitts in a modest three-bedroom semi-detached house, admitted money laundering and was caged for two years and one month.

The pair and their accomplices were rumbled when Pfizer bought multiple batches of the pills and ran tests which confirmed the tablets were fake and dangerously dosed with other drugs and bulking agents.

Regional Organised Crime Units across the UK launched an investigation to identify the gang who were later arrested.

Three more Black Country gang members jailed

Three other members of the gang were sentenced with five others due to be sentenced over the next few days.

Lee Lloyd, 48, of Tipton, was jailed for seven years and two months after admitting six charges, including conspiracy to supply Class C drugs.

Kyle Smith, 26, of Willenhall, was sentenced to four years having pleaded guilty to five charges, including conspiracy to supply Class C drugs.

Mark Bayley, 63, of Wolverhampton, was caged for six years and five months after admitting charges including conspiracy to supply Class C drugs and possession with intent to supply Class B drugs.

Police raided a shed in Tipton

The court heard how police officers raided a shed in Tipton and found a fake Xanax factory complete with an industrial powder mixer.

Cops also swooped on a garage in Wolverhampton where they found a tablet press machine, metal pill casts and stamps along with powder and a handwritten recipe list.

Detectives discovered four pill press machines capable of producing 10,000 pills an hour had been bought from a UK company for £30,000. 

During the same period large quantities of Alprazolam and an analogue, Adinazolam, powder was shipped from China, along with bulking agents and other ingredients to make the fake pills.

Jonathan Kelleher, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said after the case: “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 profit in Bitcoin ran into millions’

Investigating officer, Detective Inspector Dave Hollies said previously: “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.”

Xanax is a powerful tranquilliser used to treat anxiety and panic attacks. 

It is not available on the NHS, but can be obtained in the UK through a private prescription.