- author, Ben Godfrey
- role, BBC Midlands Today
A Black Country-based drugs gang sold more than £4 million worth of counterfeit Xanax anti-anxiety drugs produced in garden sheds and garages, a court has heard.
The group, which operated in Tipton, Wolverhampton and Wednesbury, and included relatives and friends, are alleged to have produced up to 11 million fake pills for sale on the so-called dark web between 2018 and 2019.
The details emerged at the start of the trial of two men allegedly involved in packing and delivering the tablets, and collecting the raw materials.
Suspects Jordan Pitts, 25, of Hickman Road, Tipton, and Brayden Roper, 24, of Powis Avenue, Tipton, both deny assisting in the case.
Jurors at Wolverhampton Crown Court were told eight others have already pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy to supply class C drugs, money laundering and trademark infringement.
Xanax is a powerful tranquilizer used to treat anxiety and panic attacks.
It is not available through the NHS but is available through a private prescription in the UK.
The drug contains alprazalam, a powerful and addictive drug that is sold on the black market, particularly in the United States.
Jenny Joseph, prosecuting, said the group sought to manufacture and sell fake tablets in exchange for cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin.
“They worked together to manufacture and supply the counterfeit goods, using chemical powders and pressing them into tablets in a medicine press which they had bought legitimately from a company in Oxfordshire,” she said.
“These were packaged and sent via Royal Mail to customers in the UK and America.”
The court heard how the activity came to light after Pfizer, the maker of Xanax, carried out a series of test buys in January 2018.
This revealed the tablet parcel had been sent from a post office in the Black Country.
Jurors were shown images taken from the family garage in Wolverhampton and a garden shed in Tipton, which showed the remains of a pill-making machine and forensic traces of counterfeit drugs.
Prosecutors said pills found in Jordan Pitt’s bedroom in 2018 were stamped Xanax, while a package recovered in the US contained Pitt’s personal information.
Mr Joseph added that investigations revealed the group was led by Brian Pitts, 28, of Beebe Road, Wednesbury, and his partner Katie Harlow, 26, of Lane Street, Bilston, and was based in Thailand.
Pitts and Harlow pleaded guilty to drug and money laundering charges at an earlier hearing.
Lee Lloyd, Deborah Bellingham, Anthony Pitts, Mark Bailey, Scott Tonkinson and Kyle Smith, all from the Black Country, are awaiting sentence.
The trial is expected to last up to four weeks.
