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Customs confiscated numerous medicinal products in the course of the investigation
Photo: Customs
A 35-year-old and a 38-year-old are said to have traded in prohibited and prescription drugs worldwide from Germany.
The accused are said to have sold sexual enhancers, diet pills, antibiotics and drugs against cancer and HIV via numerous websites.
The Central Office Cybercrime Bavaria (ZCB) and the Munich customs investigation office announced on Monday.
The accused are said to have procured the drugs "in containers in Asia and forwarded them worldwide by post via a hub in Singapore," said a press release.
The products were sold through various websites, adapted to the respective countries and regions.
In the USA, for example, pain relievers were particularly popular.
According to the investigators, an experimental drug was also sold via a site attributable to the perpetrators, which was temporarily used in Australia for the therapy of Covid-19.
The drug has since been withdrawn from the market.
"It is perfidious at the present time to still cash in with supposed corona drugs where it has not been confirmed that the drugs work at all," says Christian Schüttenkopf from the Munich customs investigation office.
Business worth millions
In the course of the investigation, assets to the value of 1.5 million euros were confiscated from the accused, including several high-quality sports cars, luxury watches, Segways and expensive e-bikes.
Customs IT specialists involved in the raid seized cryptocurrencies worth over 600,000 euros.
"We are dealing here with perpetrators who apparently want to finance their luxurious lifestyle," said Schüttenkopf, commenting on the perpetrators' motivation.
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In addition to high-quality Porsche models, Segways and e-bikes were also confiscated from the accused
Photo: Customs
How lucrative the illegal dispatch of medicines is, further information from customs shows: 6,000 letters, which the investigators attribute to the accused, were confiscated at Frankfurt Airport alone.
In addition, 1,700 mail items containing 100,000 tablets and pills were seized there within one year.
It is known from past investigations that the number of unreported cases of goods actually shipped is many times higher than what can be intercepted by customs.
Offers openly online instead of in the darknet
The products were not sold on the Darknet.
Instead, the websites were openly available on the net.
"Average Otto buyers must first come to the Darknet, outside of the Darknet the customer base is obviously larger," said Schüttenkopf.
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According to investigators, the drugs were sold through a "hub" in Singapore
Photo: Customs
At first glance, the pages appeared to be reputable online shops.
In fact, according to investigators, prescription drugs could be ordered without testing and with just a few clicks.
"As soon as drugs are sold on the Internet and no usual prescription is required, you should stay away from them," says Christian Schüttenkopf.
Reputable online pharmacies can be recognized by the fact that they have an official license to sell drugs online.
The pages are listed accordingly in the federal mail order register.
The accused are said to have made their criminal services available to other internationally active perpetrators.
In return, they also received a share of their sales.
The accused are said to have concealed their profits via a network of bogus companies abroad.
The websites themselves are said to have been hosted in Iceland.
Because it is more difficult for investigators to seize servers there, not all websites have been taken offline.
Proceedings were initiated against the previously known customers of the websites on suspicion of violating the Arzeimittelgesetz.
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