High life of family who ran a ‘pills factory’
BROTHERS NETTED £500k MAKING STEROIDS AND VIAGRA – AND A WIFE LAUNDERED THE MONEY
TWO brothers who sold illicit drugs – including substances made in a cement mixer – to bodybuilders from their fake pill factory have been jailed.
Daniel and Matthew Hackland, from Wythenshawe, lived the high life running the sophisticated operation, boasting watches worth £17,000 and cars worth £60,000.
The siblings sold unauthorised substances to customers across the country under the ‘D-Hacks’ brand.
Some of the drugs were illegally imported, others were homemade.
They sold supplements, steroids and other drugs such as Viagra.
The illicit family-run business was exposed after one of the brothers’ customers collapsed.
A Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) investigation found that older brother Daniel, 33, ran a website called ‘D-Hacks.’
Officials discovered tamoxifen, which is primarily used to treat breast cancer but which can also counter the side-effects of steroid abuse, was on offer.
The brothers, and Daniel’s wife Jenna, 29, are said to have benefitted to the tune of £500,000 from the operation.
Robin Shellard, prosecuting, told Manchester Crown Court Daniel was responsible for production.
Both brothers ran the supply operation from their homes and a rented office unit.
The siblings, and mum-of-two Jenna, used a variety of accounts to launder the proceeds of their crime.
But the scam began to unravel in March 2013 when one of their customers, a bodybuilder from south Wales, was hospitalised after consuming a chemical called ‘DNP’ – which has been marketed as a slimming aid – he had purchased from ‘D-Hacks,’ prompting an investigation.
The MHRA and the police carried out raids at Daniel and Jenna’s home on Redburn Road in Baguley and at Matthew’s former home on East Avenue in Heald Green, Stockport.
The brothers’ parents house in Wythenshawe was also searched.
Almost 9,000 tablets, six bottles of injectable liquid, £49,000 in cash as well as 1,500 Euros and 2,000 US dollars hidden in a safe were found at the Redburn Road property. More medicines and more than 375,000 tablets said to be worth £135,000 as well as ‘D-Hacks’ labels were found at the East Avenue home.
A further raid took place at a commercial unit at the Kingsley Trading Centre in Northenden, where investigators found a lab for the production of steroids.
An electric pill press and a cement mixer were also seized.
Daniel Hackland was jailed for four-and-a-half years, while Matthew was imprisoned for three years.
Jenna Hackland was handed an 18-month suspended prison sentence. She was also ordered to carry out 100 hours unpaid work and placed on a three-month electronically-monitored curfew.
Daniel Hackland, of Redburn Road, Baguley, Wythenshawe, admitted producing a controlled drug.
He and brother Matthew, 31, of the same address, also pleaded guilty to possessing prescriptiononly medication with intent to supply; possessing unauthorised medicinal products with intent to supply; possessing class C drugs with intent to supply and money laundering.
Jenna Hackland, also of Redburn Road, pleaded guilty to money laundering.