UK men jailed for dark net market fake pharma supply

Four men who conspired to supply illicit and counterfeit pharmaceuticals in the UK via dark net markets and messaging service Telegram have been imprisoned with collective sentences of more than 47 years.  

The gang are estimated to have made around £4.3m ($5.8m) in Bitcoin payments from selling an array of fake medicines through a rogue online pharmacy, which operated under the SocialPharma brand, according to the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU).

They focused mainly on controlled substances, generally in tablet form, but also included falsified prescription-only medicines such as breast cancer, cholesterol-lowering, erectile dysfunction, weight-loss and antibiotic medicines.

Over-the-counter (OTC) products were also available to customers alongside class A, B and C drugs that included opioid analgesics and heroin, which, on testing, was found to contain traces of fentanyl.

The four men have been named as ringleader Osvaldas Novikovas (32), assisted by Jordanas Avizienius (27), Javed Afzal Khan (55) and Marius Sutrinavicius (44).

Novikovas was responsible for overall operations and the supply of drugs, with 'right hand man' Avizienius overseeing sales and managing dark web channels. Sutrinavicius ran the day-to-day packing house, including preparing and posting drug packages, while Khan supplied pharmaceuticals to the operation.

Novikovas was sentenced to 13 years and six months’ imprisonment, while Avizienius got 10 years and six months, Sutrinavicius got eight years and three months, and Khan was sentenced to 15 years.

"Buying drugs from dark net markets is inherently dangerous. Customers have no idea what they are purchasing, and these products are sold without consultation with a GP, without prescription, and without any assurance of authenticity," said Detective Inspector Rob Bryan, senior investigating officer for SEROCU's cyber team.

"The dangers of counterfeit tablets cannot be understated. Their composition is unknown, and the effects on vulnerable people could be devastating," he added. "Without police intervention, this group would have undoubtedly continued to supply significant quantities of illicit products across the country."