Gang caught smuggling drugs using fake prescription

Turkish police in seven cities detained 28 suspects for smuggling high-priced prescription drugs obtained through false prescriptions, in the second such operation this month. Suspects are believed to have acquired medication worth TL 6 million.

The latest operations targeting prescription drug smugglers revealed a network of suspects, including doctors and healthcare workers. Police in Istanbul oversaw an operation in seven cities, including the capital Ankara, the southern cities of Adana and Hatay, the northern city of Kastamonu, Istanbul's neighboring Kocaeli and the southeastern city of Mardin. Those detained included 28 suspects, charged with obtaining expensive prescription drugs through false prescriptions.

The suspects in the latest operation against prescription drug smuggling are accused of smuggling into Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Azerbaijan and other countries, and the medication they sold was reportedly worth TL 6 million ($2.01 million).

Early on Wednesday, financial crime units rounded up suspects ranging from doctors to pharmacists and pharmacy suppliers. The operation followed almost two years of surveillance to reveal the gang. Media outlets said the suspects were Turkish nationals, except one Syrian citizen, and 18 other suspects are wanted by police.

The gang's smuggling scheme involved abuse of the E-prescription system, through which doctors can make online prescriptions for their patients. By obtaining passwords from doctors and the personal data from diabetes, cancer and hemophilia patients who need high priced drugs for their treatment, the suspects acquired medication from pharmacies in several cities across the country, seeking to avoid detection of the fraud. Media outlets reported that the scale of the fraud was exposed after police interviewed 55 cancer patients, whose identities were secretly used by the smugglers to obtain their drugs.

The suspects face charges of running a criminal organization, forgery in official documents, defrauding of public agencies and illegal use of personal data.

On May 3, the anti-smuggling units of the Turkish police detained 107 people, including 90 doctors and healthcare workers, for issuing fake prescriptions for obtaining high-priced drugs with the purpose of sending them to the PKK terrorist organization, which, in turn, sold them on international black market. Raids by police squads also discovered prescription drugs worth TL 40 million ($14,129,540).