DEA Shuts Down Over 4,600 Pharma Sites

[Dravyk]

DEA busts Web drug sales


Dozens of doctors caught up in prescription scheme


The Associated Press


WASHINGTON — Drug enforcement agents Wednesday arrested at least 18 persons and halted prescription writing by dozens of doctors and a pharmacist in a crackdown on illegal Internet medication sales.

Thirteen arrests were made in Texas and five in Florida. The Drug Enforcement Administration suspended the registrations of 20 doctors and 22 Internet pharmacies in the United States and Puerto Rico to stop them from writing or filling prescriptions.

Agents also shut down at least 4,600 Web sites that the suspects controlled and seized 2,400 checks and money orders written by individuals for $200 each. They also seized seven luxury cars and boxes of cash.

The yearlong multiagency investigation was dubbed Operation CYBERx.

Authorities have started legal procedures to seize several homes belonging to those arrested, valued at about $7.85 million.

Among the suspects were five persons that the DEA alleged were the ringleaders: Johar Saran of Arlington, Texas; Gaston Blanchet and Gil Lozano of Miami; S. Ted Solomon of Orlando, Fla.; and Steve Rosner of Boca Raton, Fla.

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