On November 12, 2008, Interpol, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other law enforcement agencies in at least TEN countries raided facilities, seized illegal medicines and arrested individuals allegedly connected to rogue online pharmacies.

According to Interpol, the coordinated raids were "the first time that action was taken on an international scale, with participating countries including Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, the UK and the USA." There was, however, cross-border cooperation even before then. Two years ago, for example, the Philadelphia Inquirer published a superb eight part series about an online pharmacy that shipped drugs illegally to the United States from India. A task force of Indian and American law-enforcement agents cracked down on the operation and arrested, among others, an Indian doctor based in Agra and his son doing graduate studies in the U.S.

Juan Ibanez, a doctor in Florida, was recently sentenced to four years in jail for approving prescriptions for hydrocodone, an addictive painkiller, and selling the drug online. Like other doctors who’ve been similarly charged, Ibanez issued prescriptions for online customers even if they never consulted him personally. All they needed to do was fill out an online questionnaire.

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Ibanez indictment		1707 Kb

If you get a call inviting you to buy cheap prescription drugs, think twice. The Food and Drug Administration issued a press release last November warning about a new phone scam in which a "salesperson" would offer discounted medicines and then ask the customer to wire money to the Dominican Republic.