Fake £4m Xanax drug gang boss jailed

A gang leader who co-ordinated from Thailand a £4m fake Xanax drug-making operation in West Midlands sheds and garages has been jailed for eight years.

Up to 11 million tablets were made in various locations in Tipton, Wednesbury and Wolverhampton and then sold on the dark web via cryptocurrency payments.

The criminal enterprise, between 2018 and 19, was run from a luxury villa in Thailand by Brian Pitts, 30, of Beebee Road, Wednesbury, who is one of 10 being sentenced for their part in the operation.

The fake tablets were shipped across the UK and to America, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

Pitts, who had earlier pleaded guilty to six charges, including conspiracy to supply Class C drugs, was described by Judge John Butterfield as "the beating heart of this enterprise".

He said the ringleader controlled every part of the drugs operation and was constantly involved in it.

Pitts was arrested by police when he returned to the UK with his then-partner Katie Harlow, who was also part of the Thai-end of the criminal operation.

The officers were able to seize his mobile phone, which prosecutors described as a "goldmine of information", showing his involvement at all levels of the operation.

The court had heard the gang made the tablets in houses, sheds and garages in the West Midlands.

It would be wrong, Judge Butterfield said, to dismiss the enterprise as "a minor cottage industry" and that it was instead "large scale, organised and determined".

The gang's activities had initially come to light after an investigation was launched by Pfizer, the manufacturer of the genuine Xanax tablets, which are used to treat anxiety.

The inquiry was then picked up by the Regional Organised Crime Unit, which discovered the gang had purchased legally four pill-making machines, enabling them to press more than 16,000 tablets an hour.

While the gang made £4m, the number of tablets they made could have fetched them more than £11m, the court heard.

The gang also purchased the powders needed to make the tablets and fake Xanax stamps.

But tests revealed the amount of the active ingredient Alprazalam in the fake tablets varied from none at all to twice the proper amount.

Harlow, 27, of Lane Street, Bilston was sentenced to two years and one month in jail, after she earlier admitted a charge of converting and transferring criminal property.

Judge Butterfield said that while it appeared Pitts had taken some actions in her name, none of them were without her knowledge.

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