Police seize pill stash in dawn raids
SIX MEN ARRESTED AS POLICE GRAB VAST HAUL OF TABLETS BEING ILLEGALLY SOLD ONLINE
DIAZEPAM and tramadol pills were among an enormous haul of pharmaceutical drugs worth millions of pounds seized by police in dawn raids.
Thousands of tablets were taken by officers as part of an investigation into the illegal sale of medicine and controlled drugs on websites.
Greater Manchester Police said Operation Pyarr was launched to smash a ‘comprehensive, multi-million pound international fraud operation.’
Police said genuine pharmaceutical drugs had been ‘unlawfully removed or leaked from the supply chain in the UK’ and then sold, illegally, online.
Three specific websites are understood to be involved. Six men were arrested after teams of officers swooped on several addresses.
Officers said a number of properties in Tameside, Cheetham Hill and Bury were searched as part of the raids – including Ela Mill north of Bury town centre.
Investigators believe orders were processed and dispatched from the multi-occupancy mill, the M.E.N. can reveal.
All six men – aged 18, 25, 47, 53, and two aged 54 – were held on suspicion of supplying class C drugs and remain in police custody for questioning, GMP said.
The investigation was carried out by the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority alongside police in Bury and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
The exact amount of tablets seized and their worth is still being calculated, but it is believed drugs were being sold online for huge mark-ups compared to the wholesale price paid by pharmacies. Police also seized £50,000 in cash. Detective Chief Inspector Charlotte Cadden, from GMP’s Bury division, said the operation also aimed to safeguard public health and investigations would continue to root out those facilitating the supply chain. She said: “We have spent the past few months identifying where the public are able to get hold of these controlled drugs, and uncovering who is responsible.
“It is clear this is a comprehensive operation, with genuine pharmaceuticals being unlawfully removed from the supply chain in the UK and then sold, illegally, online.”