Five more people from Black Country jailed for part in £4m pharmaceutical drug operation

Lee Lloyd; Kyle Smith; Mark Bayley and 'lynchpins' Brian Pitts and Katie Harlow had already been sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court for their part in the operation, after an investigation started by a pharmaceutical company uncovered the network, which pedalled £4m worth of drugs.

Scott Tonkinson; Anthony Pitts; Jordan Pitts; Deborah Bellingham and Bladen Roper have now also been given substantial jail sentences of over 21 years collectively.

In January 2018, pharmaceutical company 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.

Pfizer identified individuals responsible for shipping the fake tablets and began to pass information to West Midlands Police in 2018 whilst continuing to investigate the group 

At the beginning 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.

West Midlands 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.

The investigators found four pill press machines costing around £7,500 each had been purchased between August 2018 and February 2019 from a UK based company. Each press is capable of producing around 10,000 tablets per hour.

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 tablets in the presses, purchased in the UK.

Officers executed a warrant at an address in Wednesbury in August 2019 where thousands of counterfeit tablets were in the process of being heat sealed in foil bags.

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

The following month a warrant in Wolverhampton revealed a tablet press machine, metal pill casts and stamps along with powder and a handwritten recipe list.

Records showed shipments of the fake tablets were made across the globe including mainland Europe and America.

Anthony Pitts,  aged 41 of Belmont Close, Tipton, was sentenced to five years and five month after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply class C drugs, conspiracy to commit a trademark offence, and conspiracy to avoid a prohibition on exporting class C drugs. 

Jordan Pitts, aged  aged 26 of Hickman Road, Tipton was jailed for three years after being found guilty of assisting in the commission of an offence. Tonkinson, aged 36 of Arundel Road, Willenhall, was jailed for four years and six months after admitting conspiracy to commit a trademark offence, conspiracy to supply class C drugs and evading prohibition/restriction on exporting class C drugs.

Bellingham, aged 58, of Windsor Road, Tipton, was jailed for four years and eleven months after admitting  to conspiracy to supply class C drugs and conspiracy to commit a trademark offence.  

Roper,  aged 25 of Stourbridge Road, Brierley Hill, was jailed for three years and three months. He has also been given a driving ban for 21 years and six months after being found guilty of assisting in the commission of an offence,

Investigating officer, Detective Inspector Hinesh Mehta 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% of the tablets.

“We are pleased that the judge has recognised the gravity of this offending. Through Operation Illuminator, West Midlands Regional Cyber Crime Unit works with partners globally to shine a light on criminality taking place on the dark web.”

Patrick Holt,director of Global Security for Pfizer, said:  “We’re 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.”