- Brian Pitts, 29, and Katie Harlow, 26, ran criminal empire from house in Thailand
- The gang sold more than £4m worth of fake Xanax pills across the dark web
A British couple who were ringleaders of a drugs gang selling millions of fake Xanax pills around the world are facing jail.
Brian Pitts, 29, and Katie Harlow, 26, ran an international criminal empire from a luxury villa in Thailand.
They arranged for millions of counterfeit Xanax pills to be produced in sheds and garages across the West Midlands.
The gang included family members and friends who sold more than £4m worth of fake pills on the dark web.
Harlow arranged for millions of counterfeit Xanax pills to be produced in sheds and garages
Brian Pitts, 29, ran an international criminal empire along with Katie Harlow, 26, and others
Pitts and Katie Harlow ran their crime empire from a villa with swimming pool in Thailand
Pill press stamp found for use in the manufacturing network that was uncovered by police
Investigating officer Detective Inspector Dave Hollies said: ‘The scale of production of these counterfeit tablets ran in the millions’
They were finally caught after a five-year international investigation led by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Ltd.
Pfizer bought multiple batches of the pills and ran tests which confirmed the tablets were fake and dangerously dosed with other drugs and bulking agents.
Regional Organised Crime Units across the UK launched an investigation to identify the gang and ten of the group are now facing jail.
Pitts previously admitted conspiracy to supply class C drugs and conspiracy to commit a trademark offence.
Barlow, who lived with Pitts in a modest three-bedroom semi-detached house in Wednesbury, admitted money laundering.
On Wednesday two more defendants, Jordan Pitts, 25, and Bladen Roper, 24, were found guilty of assisting in the commission of an offence following a trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
Police say the gang made an ‘eye-watering’ sum of money in online sales in 2018 and 2019 with profits being laundered through Bitcoin.
In 2019, police raided a shed in Tipton and found a fake Xanax factory complete with an industrial powder mixer.
Cops also swooped on a garage in Wolverhampton where they found a tablet press machine, metal pill casts and stamps along with powder and a handwritten recipe list.
Detectives discovered that between 2018 and 2019 four pill press machines capable of producing 10,000 pills an hour had been bought from a UK company for £30,000.
During the same period large quantities of Alprazolam and an analogue, Adinazolam, powder was shipped from China, along with bulking agents and other ingredients to make the fake pills.
Investigating officer, Detective Inspector Dave Hollies said: ‘The scale of production of these counterfeit tablets ran in the millions.
‘We found evidence the group had purchased over two tonnes of bulking agent which made up over 90 per cent of the tablets.
‘The weight of active ingredients purchased was up 220kg. And the profit in Bitcoin also ran into millions.’
Records showed shipments of the fake tablets were made across the globe including mainland Europe and America.
Xanax is a powerful tranquilliser used to treat anxiety and panic attacks.
It is not available on the NHS, but can be obtained in the UK through a private prescription.
The gang faced a string of charges including conspiracy to supply class C drugs, conspiracy to commit a trademark offence, and money laundering.
They will be sentenced at a later date.