The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) today (November 25) revealed that it has disrupted a “multimillion-pound criminal network” supplying “controlled drugs and unauthorised” medicines in a “large-scale” online operation.
An MHRA investigation – known as Operation Lamborghini – discovered that the criminal network was “operating a series of websites” to “illegally supply” unlicensed medicines including Class B and Class C drugs, it said.
Read more: MHRA busts ‘first’ UK illicit weight loss jab factory in record raid
According to the regulator, the investigation identified “almost two million doses of medicinal controlled drugs and other medicines linked to the criminal group”.
These included benzodiazepines, zolpidem, zopiclone and codeine, as well as “unauthorised versions” of medicines including erectile dysfunction (ED) drug sildenafil, it said.
The investigation found that the prescription-only medicines (POMs) Zapain and modafinil were also “supplied unlawfully”, it added.
“Blatant disregard” for safety
The MHRA said that three individuals were convicted today for their roles in the “organised criminal group”, while another was found “not guilty” and a fifth individual pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.
MHRA criminal enforcement unit (CEU) head Andy Morling said that these convictions send “a clear message” that trafficking medicines “is a serious criminal offence that will be met with a robust and coordinated response”.
Read more: MHRA crack-down seized £40m in illegally traded drugs last year
“The individuals involved showed a blatant disregard for public safety, placing people at real risk for their own financial gain,” he stressed, adding that the MHRA will “continue to pursue those who threaten the public with dangerous and unlicensed medicines”.
It comes after the MHRA last month revealed that it had “dismantled” a “major illicit manufacturing facility” making unlicensed weight loss jabs such as retatrutide following a record-breaking two-day raid in Northampton.
Read more: MHRA seizures of weight loss jabs rise 163% in three months
During the raid on a warehouse, MHRA officers and local police discovered “more than 2,000 unlicensed retatrutide and tirzepatide pens” that were “awaiting dispatch to customers”, it said at the time.
Meanwhile, the medicines watchdog revealed in January that it had seized more than 17 million doses of illegally traded medicines amounting to a “potential street value” of more than £40 million in 2024.
